Say Cheese!

Diwali is coming up and as lot of you know it is time for us to take a family portrait. This is our first time taking a portrait in India. Our session will be at Celebrity Kids in Ambiance mall in Gurgaon.
My friends, if you wish to receive a Holiday Greeting from us, do reply to this post and I will mail you your personalized card! Of Course you would also get a letter enclosed with a card.
Hurry offer ends at Diwali.

Start preparing for Diwali!

Catch a Tiger by the Tail

This month 17th thru 20th we will be visiting the Ranthambore National Park in Rajasthan. We will be staying at this amazingly luxurious jungle camp at Sherbagh. Check this link out to see the beauty of it http://www.sherbagh.com/about_sherbagh.aspx
You know what is more amazing, it will be just two of us and not the kids. Actually not taking kids part is not that amazing. Sunny really loves jungle safaris so I would have loved to take him with us but the trip is only planned for adults. I am super excited about it. I will write more when I get back.
Until then you check out the pictures of the park! Incredible India!

Trip of my life

We had a long weekend beginning Thursday August 14 th till Sunday 17th. We decided to go some nice for a long weekend. Our discussion started right from visiting Dubai to Chandigarh. We finally settled on a place. Hotel room was booked at Holiday Inn. Clothes and Swim suites were packed. For the first time in ages not a whole lot of food was packed since we now reside in a country where food is not fried in a lard!
Manna and I took half day offs on Thursday and we decided to leave right after the Independence day program at Chiku and Sunny's school.
We left after the sumptuous lunch at Nerula's around 3 ish. Cold coffee ice-cream was a mandatory before starting our trip. It was us 4 plus Mummy ma(Manna's mom). The destination was 4 hours away. But with our new driver and heavy rains we reached the destination around 8:00 ish. The hotel was nice, similar to the one in US but more lavish service in terms greeting, saluting you at the entrance, carrying your luggage etc. I am used to all these luxuries in India by now! Here I will skip a day and go on to next one so I can tell you all about THE place we visited.

Next day after the continental breakfast (which also contains idlis, parathas and bhaji !) we set out to start our day. We drove(6-7 kms.) to reach the place. But we could only drive as far as couple of kilometers away from the destination. Kids loved to use horse carriage to reach the destination. They were very excited as well. We hired a guide who would narrate to us in English and Hindi. We got our ticket and went thru security clearance.

The entrance was magnificent. It had a grand structure with farsi carving on it. Now I was dying to get inside. Once I entered the gate, there I could see amazing Taj Mahal in front of my eyes. I could not believe my eyes and I kept quite since I wanted my eyes to make an impression of that picture into my brain so I could never forget it. It took 22 years to build it. It is basically a tomb of Shahajahan and Mumtaj. Inside it is carved beautifully and if that was not enough semiprecious stones are put into those carvings. Those stone actually glow under the beam of light.
Since we could only admire the beauty and take lots of pictures of it, we did the same thing. I was so happy to be back to India to experience such a wonderful monument. The guided tour made the experience more pleasurable. The river Yamuna flows at the back of Taj mahal makes the scene even prettier. To make our trip even more memorable we made Chiku tie Rakhi on her brother's wrist right at Taj Mahal. He gave her a nice bracelet as a gift. There were some other visitors who marveled this idea.
I really felt like wearing a T-shirt that day that would read "I saw Taj today"!
We also saw Agra Fort and Fatehpur Sikri during this trip.
It is not a fluke that this monument is one of the Seven wonders in the world. It really is magnificent.

Security

Chiku and Sunny have this coolest security idea in their school along with I-Cards, Security Guards and many other human intervention ed security features. They both have a computer chip that fits in their I-card. When ever they enter the school main gate the card automatically gets scanned by these powerful scanners set at the gate. Yes it happens even if the child is sitting in a school bus while entering the gate. The SMS(text message) is sent on the mobile phone stating that the child has entered the school at this particular time. Same thing happens when they leave the school for the day. It really helps me keep tabs about the time they get picked from school.
Of course they use my company's service for transmitting those messages on the mobile phone so whenever the messages are delayed I check with our tech. ops team to see if service is having any delays.
Do you like this feature? Let me know what you think.

Life is hectic

I am so sorry for not posting for so long. I know from the traffic pattern to the site that there are good number of my friends who read my blog regularly. I am so sorry my friends for not letting you peep into my life for so long.
Life has gotten really busy. Good busy in a way.
Sunny goes to school at 7:00 am in the morning, so we both get up in the morning to get him ready for school. Manna and I go to Gym pretty regularly as well. When Sunny is off to school we then shift our focus to Chiku on getting her ready. Some days she goes for horse riding before she goes to school. Our breakfast is served at 8:00 am and three of us start our ride from home. We first drop daddy off to work. I then drop Chiku off to her 9:15 am school. By the time I reach office it it almost 9:25 am.
Kid's school gets over at 1:30 pm where they get picked by the driver. They come to my office which is only 5 minutes away from school. I check their homework and spend few minutes with them asking them how their day at school was. After lots of instructions from me, hugs and kisses they set off to go to day care.
We have been really happy with their day care. It is very close to a day care in US in terms of facilities and expenses. I like this one better because they serve amazing lunch and evening snack(better than home made, I am not kidding).
I will write a separate post about the daycare for curious ones out there.
The driver comes to my office place after dropping them off to day care. I start from my office around 6:00 pm. I pick kids up first, then daddy and we reach home around 7:00 pm. There are some days when we get stuck into traffic as well, since I am not driving I am more patient with the situation.
When they get home their home work has been taken care of by the day care teaher. I just go thru it to make sure they have done it right. Some days we do some craft projects given in school for them. We eat dinner by 8:00 pm and put kids to bed by 9:00 pm.
I like my routine. Sometimes it gets too hectic and busy when Manna is traveling but I am ok with that.

Life of Sunny

As you all know it has been 6 months since we shifted to India. I feel that we have been here lot longer. I guess we adapted to this life lot faster than we imagined. Kids have forgotten US except for some special people that we had in our lives. We dearly miss US when we are running short on Almond Butter or some such exotic Trader Joe's goody. I know my life revolves around food!

But anyways Sunny has adopted very well to Indian life. He is now a skinny, tanned boy. He absolutely loves his school. He is most well read boy in his class. So teacher says his thoughts in writing are really well constructed. His handwriting has improved a lot after coming here. He has to write lot of essays and creative writing type of things. He is now trying to write cursive.

His Hindi progress has been phenomenal. In 4 months he is doing grade II Hindi. He still does some mistakes with his 'Matras'. I can tell that he really does not like Hindi as he always finds excuses not to do his Hindi homework. School also has started giving him extra attention on Saturdays on an individual basis so he could do better in Hindi.

His math skill are good. But I feel that the math level that they are doing in school is lower than what he used to do in Montessori. His school is also having math teacher retention problems since the academic year began. I am thinking of putting him in Kumon for same reason so he could learn at his own pace and not with school pace.

One area where he really lacks is his organizational skills. He never completely writes his homework in his Almanac. He fails to bring appropriate books related to that homework. His cubby in his school is never arranged and he has hard time finding right things for the appropriate periods in school. He leaves lot of blank pages in notebooks for no reason. His notebooks are messy. He forgets things everywhere. We(teachers and us) are putting extra efforts in getting him more organized by giving him guide lines and and using points system even at home.

The school giving them good exposure to lot of extracurricular activities like music, soccer, gymnastics, basic computer skills and Olympiads. He plays soccer in school with friends. On Tuesdays he has swimming, Wednesdays he has Horse riding and Thursdays he has skating in school. He has opted for Chess for his activity. They also have computer education where they are teaching him how to write and save a file and some other basic things.

They have show and tell sessions in school on Mondays. They have an assembly in school on 3 days a week. They have morning 15 minutes health class where they do some sort of exercises. He also participates in Gymnastics. Since so many of the activities are covered in school I am happy that I do not have to drive him anywhere on weekends for any classes.

Sunny as usual eats his oatmeal in the morning. At 9:00 is he eats a fruit, snack and juice tiffin. He eats his Roti and subji lunch at noon. He reaches the daycare around 2:15, where one of the didis helps him change and serves him nice lunch. He then rests for some time before beginning his homework. They have evening activities in the day care as well for an extra cost. He participates in chess, gymnastics and skating(playing hockey) in the day care. He then gets his snack with Bournvita milk at around 5:30 pm.

Over the weekend he has Piano teacher coming home to teach him keyboard. I don't think he is doing too well with it since he never practices keyboard during the weekdays. But I am hopeful that this will at least make his motor skills better. Also over the weekend the school gives them enough homework to keep them busy for at least couple of hours.

Sunny and Chiku are always together wherever they go. They sometimes fight but I bet not as much as my bro and I fought. So I am happy that wherever they are, they are always there for each other.

As usual he has been a avid reader where he has fallen in love with Roald Dahl and finished his entire series except two books. He has also finished Mary Pope Osborne Magical Tree House series.

He takes long time to make friends. He only has one boy in school that he say "is not too silly like other boys". That friend is over to our place today for a play date.

So this is Sunny's life jam packed with activities and school. But he enjoys all of it.

I am really glad to have a son like Sunny!

Ye Mera Ghar

We did not bring any bedroom furniture from US when we moved to India. We never had great bedroom furniture to begin with. It was all garage sale collectibles. So ever since we moved here I have been thinking about buying furniture. Delhi is well known for good furniture. I went to all the areas famous for furniture making like 'Kirtinagar', 'Ghitorni' . I did not like the concept of ordering the furniture and getting it made. I wanted something off the shelf. Well that was hard since queen beds are not so common (kings are) in India. They did not have ready ones available. There are few stores like LifeStyle who sell readymade furniture but their prices were exorbitant. I was almost getting tired of this endless search when I found the store(chain of stores) Style Spa. They make furniture that is contemporary yet reasonable in price. I liked this bed because it is simple but elegant. I placed an order for bed, side tables, dressing table with a stool. It is compressed wood that is treated for termite or any other kind of natural damage. Basically Ikea kind of stuff.
Furniture would be delivered on Wednesday(25th). I am excited since my search for furniture is over before the school begins.
Check out their web site for more. It would give an idea to some of you who are eager to move back to India for good.
I will send you pictures of my bedroom once it is all set.
Bedroom image taken from Style Spa website

Home Alone

Manna is away on a business trip to Chennai, Nasik, Pune. He is going to come back with kids and grandma on 26 th. So I am alone at home. Once in a while it is good to be alone and I really do not miss my family because I am a free bird for a week for the first time in 10 years. He left for Chennai Thursday(19th June) morning.
Friday evening my driver told me a story about how one of the women on the farm used to be scared of staying alone since she used to hear footsteps on the terrace of her house. I said in my mind "Dude, I am not one of those crazy ones.." I go to bed on Friday night thinking about his story.
At midnight I hear someone banging on my door. I wake up and make sure that it is real and not a nightmare. Meanwhile that person stepped into my house. Then I realized that I had forgotten to lock the door. That was my "Oh Sh*t" moment. When I come out of my bedroom I see that it was my neighbor standing there. She was shouting "Are aag lag gayi" (There is a fire!). I looked at their house door which is just 10 feet away from ours, thick black smoke was coming out. The door looked like a chimney emitting smoke. I called up the main gate to let them know that there is fire in the house. I also handed the emergency light to the neighbor since they had turned off their power supply. My neighbor's is a family of 4 with husband, wife and 2 kids, 15 year old boy and a 7 year old girl. From outside I had no idea how widespread the fire was. Everyone in their family came out except the dad. He was busy extinguishing the fire. His wife kept shouting asking him to come out. Finally when he came out he was all covered in smoke. When the security guard showed up with the fire extinguisher and electrician, the fire was almost put out.
It seems the fire had started with the AC unit in their kid's bedroom. The son just happened to wake up and realize that his AC is melting above his bed. He got up carried his sleeping sister in his arms and took her to parents to inform them that his AC is melting. By the time he could wake his parents up, the whole room caught fire. The dad put out the fire with buckets and buckets of water. Now their entire house is damaged from the smoke. Luckily no one is hurt and they had an insurance on houehold items so they did not have at least any financial loss. Good thing is that they have lots of help available on the farm in terms of cleaning, clearing the house and people would start plastering, painting and repairing the house from Monday.
It is really unfortunate that it happened to them but we have learned our lessons from it. Since we shifted to India we haven't bought a fire extinguisher(Thanks to Manna who left ours-2 of them in the Belleville house) and we do not have any smoke detectors in our rooms. Also we do not have the insurance for the home goods. The house is covered by the company but not the belongings in the house. So we are going to take care of those things right away!

And now my driver has one more story to tell about a woman on the farm who hears someone banging on the door at night when she is alone!

Weekend at Neemrana

As you know the kids are still away with their grandparents. They are coming back on 26 th June. So we are just two of us here in Gugaon. Ya.. don't start imagining much.
Anyway Manna had this Saturday off so he had planned a surprise trip for us. He took me to a fort called Neemrana (Please check out the 360 tour to get an idea of the fort). It is 2 hours from Gurgaon(in state of Rajasthan). So We left home on Saturday after lunch. This was our first road trip where Manna drove on his own. I was really nervous about that because in India there is no such thing as driving courtesy while you are on the road. People are extremely selfish and they break every possible law when they are behind the wheel. But to his credit he drove extremely well and we reached the fort at 4:00 pm.
The fort was fabulous. Right from the massive entrance door to the decor, everything was well preserved. Each room was decorated with a different theme. The room we stayed in was 'Radha Mahal'. It was a small room but very cute with a balcony showing a view of the town below. It took us almost 2 hours to see the entire fort. The place was very well planned with all the facilities like pool, library, beautiful swing sets, gym, spa, dance, good food, and guided or audio tours of the fort. The fort caters to lot of tourists from outside India so the hospitality was top notch (of course the prices were top notch as well but let's not talk about it). There was high tea provided late afternoon. The evening was wonderful starting with Rajasthani dance, drinks and ending with fabulous dinner featuring Indian and western food. After the dinner we took a nice walk around the fort admiring it's beauty at night decorated with lights.
The next morning we set out to see 'Bawdi'. On the way we had a nice breakfast (Yum Kachori, Samosa and Jalebi)at a local 'Halwaii' (sweets maker) Bawdi is a well that is 9 stories underground. There were no signs or tours telling us the history of this marvelous structure. One local said that the queen used to have a secret underground path from the Neemrana fort to bawdi where she used to come for a bath, Wow! I was happy to see that the government of Rajasthan has undertaken a project to preserve this historic structure. We returned to the fort taking a route thru' the village. In the afternoon it rained pretty heavy, the fort looked beautiful with water gushing thru the steps. We had nice lunch and enjoyed almond pie, mangoes, khaja, and coffee for dessert. We returned home early evening.
It was very nice to be just two of us after a long time. It was one the memorable weekend outings I have had in a looooong time.
But now on a calm Sunday evening I miss my kids and want to be with them badly!

Pathetic joke - 1

What did Kangaroo say when his baby was stolen?



Ans: Someone pick pocketed me.

hahahaha !!!

Naukari(Job)

It has been a week since I left kids with my parents and flew out to Delhi. It was wonderful visiting my family, chilling out, eating millions of Mangoes for every meal and most importantly doing nothing(without hubby)! Hey that is what you get to do when you move to India!
Kids are having too much fun with Nani(grandmother), Abba(grandfather), Mama(uncle-my bro), Mami(aunty-his wife) and their two Angels(6 year old and a 2 year old). They don't miss us at all.
So you must be thinking why did I leave those comforts and come back to Gurgaon to Manna? Well, good thinking. It so happened that I accepted a job offer from a company and my joining date was June 2 nd. The company is No. 1 into mobile messaging(SMS) in terms of volumes. Yup, my job is spamming people. I completed first week of my job. I will definitely write about the culture differences and how I feel working in an Indian company after 10 years.
Happy Sunday!

Adventures of Sunny

Sunny(my 6 year old) was invited by my sis-in-law(manna's another sister in Kolhapur) to travel with her family(hubby, 13 year old son) and group of 20 or so friends to Kabini jungle resorts. Manna and I were nervous at first since he has never lived without either one of us. At the same time we were pretty confident that he would love to go since he loves animals so much. I dropped him at sis-in-laws place on 15th morning. They left after lunch to drive to Hubali(town in a state of Karnataka). From there they took a overnight train ride to reach the destination. This was Sunny's first train ride. He loved travelling. He enjoyed the food that was served. In fact I was told that he over ate for every single meal! He also visited Mysor(another town in Karnataka) palace and the Mysor zoo. He saw the palace at night when it was decorated with beautiful nights.
He came back on 19th. 4 very happy days without mom, dad and Chiku. Chiku missed him a lot. Another victory for R2I where kids can visit places with their relatives and develop strong bond with them. I am really grateful to my sis-in-law(SIL) and brother-in-law(BIL) for taking Sunny on a trip. They took great care of him. He would always have fun memories about this trip.
Thanks BIL and SIL!

Hello Again

Hello,
You must be wondering about my where abouts. I am travelling to my Mom's place for kids summer break. We(me, kids, mum-in-law and Didi who works for us) left Gurgaon on 14 th morning at 4:00 am. to get to the airport. I had a 6:00 a.m flight to Bombay. We reached Bombay at around 8:00 a.m. We had breakfast at my sis-in-law's(brother's wife) mom's place. Kids had great time playing with 4 other kids in the house. We had lunch in Pune at my sis-in-law's(this time it is manna's sister) place. As usual she prepared an amazing lunch and kids were pampered like crazy! Around 5:00 ish in the evening we left for Kolhapur to visit my grandmother. By 8:30 p.m we were in Kolhapur. I saw my grandmom(mom's mom) in the hospital and spent time with my mom's side of the family.
From 4:00 a.m in the morning we had visited Gurgaon, Delhi, Bombay, Pune, Kolhapur! But I was not tired. I was happy to see everyone in my family. I was also happy thinking that this is only possible because I moved to India. It has been an incredible move to India so far. Everyone we meet ask us if we are happy and they also ask kids if they miss US. My kids always answer that they do not miss US much and they are really happy in India. That makes me feel very proud about our decision to move to India.
India's slogan for tourism is 'Incredible India'.
It indeed is an incredible country where people do so much for each other.

6 years of motherhood

Suuny turned 6 on May 8th. Of course this was his first birthday in India. As always we wanted to make it the best for him(it is a first child syndrome). So the celebrations started on 7th night night(a day before) when we went to a Jain Temple on the hill where we enjoyed the view of Delhi. He had asked for pasta and garlic bread for dinner that night. He loved the dinner followed by his favorite chocolate ice-cream from Mother Dairy.

On May 8th that day started with lots of gifts. He had wished for a watch since all the kids on the farm have watches and he is the only one who does not one(he claims because of which he does not know when to come home after playing!). Pappa and Mumma gave him a nice Mickey watch. He also received gifts from Chiku and Mummy Ma(Manna's mom). He received lots of phone calls from US, which was also one if his wishes for his birthday since he did not want any of his friends and family to forget his birthday. For lunch he had asked for Idli, Sambar and Chutney(a South-Indian dish). After eating lots of Idlis, we cut the cake when Papa got home early from work. I had baked vanilla cake in my OTG. It turned out really good with added taste of bananas and dry fruits.

Late afternoon we got ready to go to Mall for bowling that Sunny had wished for on his birthday. The bowling alley was wonderful and smoke free (I did not like bowling alleys in US for the same reason). Manna could not bowl with his injured elbow. So it was me and sunny who played the game. I think he is too young(rather not that strong) for the game since he got really tired of throwing balls after few rounds. The wonderful evening ended with dinner at McDonald's(the chain is good in India, even food wise). He loved the day!

The birthday party with his friends was planned for 10th may in Pizza Hut. How can a party be not fun when there are friends, games, PIZZAS, ice-cream and cake! Later that night we opened all the gifts. Thanks to all his friends and moms for wonderful birthday gifts.

Sunny loved his first birthday in India!

This is the list of all places we have chosen to celebrate his birthdays so far

1 st year = At home on the deck with lots of friends and family.

2 nd year = On a Domino's petting farm in Ann Arbor, MI.

3 rd year = At home where a train came to take kids around in the neighbourhood.

4 th year = McDonald's on Michigan Avenue in Canton.

5 th year = At glow in the dark golf place on Ford Roan in Canton.

6 th year = Pizza Hut in DT City center mall Gurgaon.

I am not helpless anymore!

So do you remember that I had some domestic help sent by my mom. Well you also might remember that he left right away. It took me lot of efforts to find the right help. But with all the experimentation I knew that I wanted someone above certain age(I mean lot of times maturity comes with age;-)). So I called the Maid Service where they help you find one. They take their finding fee(valid for 12 months) and they renew the contract after that when you pay the fee again. Simple structure. If you are curious, the finding fee is 1 1/2 times their monthly salary.
So my point is I found a Didi(means older sister, I do not like calling her maid) who is in her mid 30s and has two kids of her own. They stay with her parents in Orissa(a state in India). She left town to earn money since she is a single mom. I tell you she is really smart, she learned how to use all my appliances in one day. She cooks for us, washes our clothes, does whatever is needed in the house except sweeping and mopping. She has picked up all the work in our house in just couple of days. She cooks excellent food and she is caring since she is a mom herself. I have liked her a lot. I think she likes us too since we are a no fuss, well behaved family(don't laugh, these are her words translated in English!). She stays in our house where she has a separate accommodation with attached toilet and bathroom. Also the woman who cleans our house is an excellent one. She is very honest and nice to talk to. Again another too good to be true person in our daily life. So once again let's pray that these two women stay with us for a loooooooog time. That does not mean that I do not have any work, I can always clean my house more!
People is U.S. go empty your dishwasher or vaccum your house!
I am too full to move since Didi made us nice Parathas, Rajma and Salad for dinner.
Cheers, Live Life Kingsize!!

Something to make you jealous

It has just sprinkled out here in Gurgaon. It is not rainy season in Delhi yet but this unseasonal rain is very pleasant. It brought little relief from the heat and dry spell. So why should you be jealous?
I remember as a kid waiting for first rain of the season so I could get soaking wet. Do you remember that peculiar smell of earth after first shower of Monsoon?That is what I am enjoying right now from the sit out of my bedroom. I have my opened my glass door, I can hear the leaves bustling with wind and feel the cool breeze.
Moment like this make me feel glad to be back to my country!
Don't forget to listen to "for a moment like this some people wait a life time!" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vSSoMw3R-E8

What does Chiku(3 yrs old) think about world poverty?

I saw Chiku washing hands for too long, so I told her "Chiku, do not waste water, there are lot of people in the world who do not get any water at all". Some other day I was putting lotion on her body when she goes "Mumma do not waste lotion, there are lot of people in the world who do not get any lotion"
All I had to say was "Oh I am sorry!"

Outsourcing?!!

Do you think India does not outsource anything, wait and think again. We know where we can get best of cheer leaders. Check it out
http://sports.in.msn.com/gallery.aspx?cp-documentid=1333433&imageindex=2
And you think you are going to miss those NBA cheerleaders, you are wrong.
Welcome to 21 century Indian Cricket with cheer leaders. Gone are the days when there used be Donald Duck cartoon icon carrying a bat on the screen when the batsman was run out. Now let's dance in Skimpy skirts! I mean it is hot in India so why wear more clothes?

Who do you think I am?

Someone at the farm invited us for a party at their house. She informed me that it is going to be an early dinner since it is Sunday night. So I thought party was going to be at 6:00 pm. She corrected me and said it is going to be at 7:30 pm(yeah, that is early dinner in India) so we can break by 10:30 or 11:00 since people have to go to work tomorrow!
She also said "I know you guys are Coconut so come between 7:30 and 8:00 pm!"
Now I was confused at this statement. So she explained me that I am brown outside and white inside. Did you get it yet?
We are Indian looking Americans. So she meant to say that don't be so punctual and come according to Indian time.
I guess I like being a coconut than a white flour pancake or a whole wheat brown bread(100%stone ground!). Let's take that comment very positively and think "We have in us, best of both worlds!!"
Good Night and let me dream a nice Pecan pancake breakfast at Cracker Barrel with friends.

Happy Birthday Manna!

So Monday 28th is Manna's birthday. Me and Dada surprised him on Friday night (25th) by a surprise visit from Mummy Ma(Manna's mom). He was throughtly surprised to see her walk into the house. He says he got the best b'day gift ever! Kids have been very happy to see her as well. Another score for relocating to India since family can travel anytime they want to.
We made his favorite meal this(sunday) evening. Tomorrow on the actual b'day I think we are going to go out to eat. I think cholcolate b'day cake is a must since Chiku loves the whole process of cutting the cake!

Daddy's day out

This morning (Saturday, 26th April) we had kid's PT conferences at school. Sunny and Chiku's teachers think that they are doing great in school. It was a well organized meeting where we met with the teacher where we talked about the kids and their progress in academics and in other activities. We also received the computerized ID cards in school where every time the child leaves the school gate a parent would receive SMS via a chip that is hidden in their bag. Pretty nifty! In the end there was an online survey about the school. Couple of Sunny's teachers came to tell me that he is a very sharp boy. We spent approximately 2 hours there.
Later daddy and kids went to watch "Horton hears the Who" at the mall. They loved the movie and the animation. I think we are huge fans of Dr. Sues. Of course it had to end with nice pizza lunch at the HUT (the world's greatest greasy pizzas at Pizza Hut). I think the trio had nice time together.

If you were to move to India - episode 1

I am starting this series 'If you were to move to India'. In these posts I will keep on making a checklist about what I feel someone should bring or buy(mindset, belongings etc.) when they move back to India. It has been only a month and a half since we moved back so I will keep on correcting myself if my assumptions prove out to be wrong. I will also keep on adding to the list as I experience Indian life. Please post your opinions as well to make the posts interactive. Girls you got to read this series, of course it is in your favor!
If I have to summarize everything that I am going to write in this series I would say
"Bring everything you have, can have or want to have". One thing you do not want to do in India is to compromise. Yes you do not want to compromise in setting up your house or making personal choices that are in your control. Day in day out you would compromise on lot of things in your surroundings that are not in your control like pollution, civic sense of our Indian brothers and sisters, population and heat. So you so do not want to add another item to the list that you could have brought from US or bought top of the line in India.
Item No. 1 - Move back when the weather is India is better than where you are moving from. Makes a big difference in your attitude.
Item No. 2 - Remember you would definitely be a upper middle class or above in India. You need a nice accommodation(rental or your own) with a guaranteed power back up within 30 seconds of blackout. A gated community with activities for kids like play structure, gym or pool.
You want your kids and yourself to be happy from day one so the R2I blues do not set in.
Remember you are not compromising by moving to India in fact you want best of both worlds!

Limited Too

Since I still do not have broadband connection at home my connectivity to VW(virtual world) is going to be limited. Here the broadband installation experience is very COMCASTIC as well. So let's not hope anything too fast. Also my domestic help is going away for a week. Yes I am talking about the man who just arrived few days ago. He needs to go back to sign his land paperwork. I am going to be a mess into a new house with no help. Which makes my VW visits even more limited hence the title Limited Too. Also next week there is going to be a home visit from kids school.(I will explain that later). These are the reasons one can get R2I blues! I wish I had my upright hoover WindTunnel and whirlpool dishwasher. Taco Bell would have been helpful with the emotional imbalance. C'mon tasty and cheap lard laden food with preservatives can help you deal with anything. What do you think, think outside the Bun

Did you miss me?

Well I missed you all a lot... I have been away from my virtual world for last few days so I could not send you my updates when there was so much happening in my life. Tonight I am borrowing Manna's work computer so I can put out a post or two. So let me write before the owner takes away my privilege.
We have been unpacking for a while but since Manna was out for a business trip until last Friday(18th) we had not moved into the house. Anyway we were happy to be in the guest house with limited luggage. We finally moved in on Sunday(2oth) night. The house looks good now. It is not decorated completely but bare minimum things are there. My curtains are beautiful and coordinated (and Super Expensive). I haven't spent this much money on anything in India. I will upload those pictures. The American(I mean Chinese) furniture look VERY nice. I think IKEA island in the kitchen is my personal favorite and most used item. Now I feel that I should I have brought bar stools to go with it. I have(rather my brother) also purchased lot of appliances. We have a Refrigerator, Washer, Dryer, Grinder and food processor combo, Microwave, Over the Counter Grill(Bigger version of toaster oven), Stove etc. Kitchen is almost all set with necessities. It was a good thing that I had packed all my lentils, pulses and spices with it's containers. Of course my mom has sent me lot of must have spices too. Thanks ma!
Kids have their bunk beds in the basement. Chiku and Sunny love their set up. Their rooms are 99% set. We still have to buy them work desks for their homework. Of course they are the coolest kids on the block with so many toys and nice room in the basement. But I could see it turning into a headache since they want to play in our basement all the time. Sunny has a boy of his age to play with and Chiku is every body's friend since she plays and communicates well with everyone. I think I underestimated how advanced she is in US since there were no kids of her age to play with. She plays with 6-10 year olds very easily and the two 4 year old kids seem too little with everything she does. They both go for horse riding with some what regularity. They both have also started swimming(rather splashing) in school from today (22nd April).
I have been providing the support structure at home for everyone. In plain words I have been a home maker! Well not entirely.. I have an assistant now. Again my bro made arrangements to bring someone to stay with us and help us with cooking and cleaning. This man cooks decent Maharashtrian food and helps me with cleaning. He stays in the helper's room that we have in the basement. He has grand daughters of Sunny and Chiku's age and can be trusted in the house. He again comes with a price tag but so is everything else in India.
Manna is busy with 6 days a week but he has 2nd and 4th Saturday off as well(along with all sunday's off!). So I think once the life is somewhat normal we can enjoy our time with kids.
I want to write so much but I need to stop since the post is getting too long. Thanks for staying with me!

you got a friend in me!

My Indian By Nature friend is inspired to blog about her life as well so we can keep in touch via our blogs. Hey that is a new cool way to keep in touch with your friends that are 7 seas away! Do you feel inspired yet, C'mon write!

The joys of being in India

Brother comes from Mumbai via Kingfisher('khandani' Airline as we call it, since their service is good). I go to pick him up at the Delhi Airport. When I see him, I see an Alphanso Mango peti on his cart.
So let the Mango eating season begin. I should take my picture before starting to eat the mangoes and one after the end of the season. The result should be interesting!!
I really miss some of friends right now and I wish they could be here to eat 24 mangoes in 15 minutes.

I don't want to move for a long time!

So our belongings finally reached us on 10th April at 3:00 pm. We shipped the belongings on Feb 15th from our door and reached on 10 th April to the new door. 3 days(8th , 9th and 10 th of April) of waiting at customs office and offering 5,000 Rs. for 'Chai Pani'(for non-indians I am sorry I can't explain this!) is what it took to get our belongings cleared.
The stuff was loaded from the container to the wearhouse on 9th for the inspection and after inspection it was loaded onto two trucks. People who were loading and unloading the trucks were extremely unprofessional. We could not believe that these people do international freights day in day out. They did not even have the ramp on the truck to load or unload the truck. But the truck was unloaded pretty fast because there were so many of them(may be 5 or so).
We did not have any breakage at all. I can pat myself on the back for this one but let's include Manna in getting patted as well.
So we have been trying to unload the boxes from Thursday evening, whole day Friday and Saturday. We are not alone here like US. We have been given carpenter, a sweeper and two people from my brother's(Dada) office.
Things really picked up when Dada came here from Mumbai. So by this evening the progress has been amazing. we have emptied all the boxes and set up the living room. All the other rooms have been semi set up.
Manna conveniently goes on a business trip on Sunday afternoon and does not come back till end of next week. Life is going to suck a little bit but I guess with Dada around it should ease up a bit the burden. Long live big bro!
I will send you pictures of the house once it is set up, until then please check out the empty house pictures on my public album.

http://picasaweb.google.co.in/pritiarwade/EmptyHouse

Being a responsible citizen of India!

So when we go to pick up kids up the afternoon we go by an intersection in sector 17-18 by Pasco manufacturing facility. There has been sewer leakage at that intersection for almost a week. The nasty water has been flowing on the streets and it is causing major obstruction for traffic. The traffic police are there in that area. I was under the impression that it would be fixed pretty soon. So everyday I would just express my frustration and go my own way. But today that leakage actually flooded the streets. So I decided to take matters in my own hands.
I asked the driver to take me to HUDA office (Haryana Urban Development Administration).
Of course the office was no different than any government office. I was misguided at couple of counters(also called as information window, which would be a very sophisticated word for bunch of people sitting on the chairs doing nothing!). Finally after 15 minutes of going around in the building I met a person who would register a complaint . After giving him the details about the intersection where the problem is occurring he informed me that no one had complaint about this leakage in last 7 days. I find it really annoying that there are at least 50,000 or more people who passed by that intersection yet no one had taken few minutes to complaint about this. I threatened the clerk that I would send those leaky sewer pictures to the newspaper if it is not fixed today. He gave a complaint number and said he would call me back to update with the status.
I just got a call back(12:30 pm) from him that it would be fixed by 2:00 pm.
So I am very happy that once you report the problem the system downwards is working is alright. But I guess I should check that it is really fixed before being to happy!

CUSTOMS!

No I am not shouting yet.
Yesterday Manna spent whole afternoon at the dock where they unloaded the container into a warehouse. Today(April 9th) he has left for Delhi again in the hopes of getting it custom cleared. At noon the officer is supposed to come to inspect our belongings. After the len-den it will be loaded onto a truck and sent to Gurgaon. But the trucks can not reach Grugaon after 5:00 pm(Don't think logical! it is beyond that). so I think it would be Thursday April 10 th when the belongings would reach us. Let's hope for the best.
I will have Manna write about the whole experience and post some pictures since I have not physically visited the facility. I have to be home when the kids come home from school. I feel like I missed the excitement of unloading. More to come, stay tuned......

It's a Morning Report

The Rumor is, our belongings have reached Delhi and would be custom cleared today, April 8th. Which means we might get things in our hands as early as Tomorrow afternoon. It is a good news, but it also means that our life of luxury has come to an end. Now I might start getting the R2I(return to India) blues with lot of work in the house. Until then let's savor these last few days at the guest house.
Hold on let me place my order for breakfast.... Paratha with achaar, dahi and Chai!
Our house is almost ready. The kitchen is being worked on, so hopefully it should be all done by this evening. We have team of people of who would initially clean the house so hopefully my days of scrubbing the toilets and vacuuming the floors are over. Let's pray and keep our fingers crossed.
Don't forget to check the empty house pictures on Picasa. It is a public album.
Have a Great Day.

How are we doing?

It has been more than 3 weeks since we are in India now.
Kids are doing fine in school. Sunny is learning Hindi really fast. He can read all the alphabets and speak few sentences. Chiku loves to do her homework and is teacher's favorite because she is very well behaved (funny huh!).
Manna also likes work and is busy in meetings with big-wigs. He sometimes does not like the fact that the information is not centralized and computerized so it is harder to access. His uniform (light blue color shirt and dark blue trouser) is all ready and he now wears it to office. In fact the first day he wore the uniform to office, it was a casual day at office and he was the only one to wear his uniform. So everyone knows that he has a uniform now!
For me, I have finished the driving class and I drive our Innova in the neighborhood with our driver sitting next to me. I have also attended a party(a very formal but a classy one) and 'Akhand Path' (very lavish and well decorated). I am also getting dental work done since I had an infection under the crown and the whole crown procedure needs to be redone. Fun Fun!
Our belongings have not arrived yet. They are in Delhi and would be possibly custom cleared on 8th of April. Our house will be also ready to move in couple of days. Today(6th April) we will be doing the 'Gruhapravesh' (formally entering the house with a idol of a god) since it is a new year in Hindu calendar.
We are also going to a Horse Show in the evening (Sponsored by Umesh's company) followed by a meeting Umesh's extended family for dinner.
I also picked up curtains for the whole house this week and they are beautiful but expensive. I am very excited to see them hung in our house.
So things are coming together slowly but surely. We are still enjoying the hospitality of Guest House and have bonded very well with the people working for us. So now they actually go out of their way to make our stay pleasant.
I am going to end this post by making you girls jealous, I found a place that makes best Samosas! They are out of this world. So far I have had Kulfi, Alu tikki and Gogappa.
I miss my friends in US! I hope you enjoyed the easter break and are getting ready for beautiful weather coming ahead. I miss my morning spring runs already!

Rely on Reliance

So we visited the Amb mall in Gurgaon today. I mean c'mon if you stay in Gurgaon it has to be your hobby to visit one of these glamorous malls. You can't even go a kilometer without seeing a mall. This mall is supposedly India's biggest mall(It is hard to believe but I am used to this concept in US since everything there was world's oldest, best or some sort of superlative). It has food court and fun games for kids. They are coming up with a Jungle Java kind of play structure there too. Absolutely clean restrooms is a big plus about this mall.
Anyway we need to buy some appliances and they have a Reliance Digital store in there so I guess Manna agreed to the 'Malleria'. In one sentence Reliance Digital is equal to 'ABC Warehouse' in US. They have computers to washing machines to any other appliance that needs power. They also have exercise equipments.
They have an amazing massage chair only for 1,50,000 Rs. So of course I got a nice free massage. It even massages your feet. If I ever win a lotto I am going to buy this one.
Sorry I digressed. So the prices in this store are very reasonable and you get to see all the brands under one roof and compare them side by side. Their staff is not so well trained yet so it is a hit or miss on the knowledgeable salesman. But overall good service, comparable prices, good variety and good selection.
I will keep you posted on the models of the appliances that I end up purchasing. Here is a good web site for comparing the appliances and reviews in India.
http://www.compareindia.com/

Also Reliance has other stores like
Reliance Time Out - which is equivalent of Borders bookstore in US. Nice book/music/multimedia store . They also have good children's area in there for kids to read. And most importantly a coffee shop for me. So Manna can now start counting the ridicules amount of money I would spend on gourmet coffee. This one is also there in Ambi Valley.
Reliance Trendz - An appearal store like Pantaloon. Also in Ambi Valley mall.
Reliance Fresh - fresh produce store.
Reliance Wellness - health and medical products market.
Reliance Jewelery -
Reliance Mart/ Reliance Super - Retail chain like Big bazaar in India.
Reliance Footprint - Footware store. By the way Delhites have the best taste in footware! This topic deserves a complete post later.

All you need to have in India is lots of Greens and you can have an US equivalent lifestyle!
I still get a sticker shock in India, I hope I come out of it pretty soon.

Chidiyaghar(Zoo) report

So Sunday(March 23rd) morning we left the house around 9:15 to go to Delhi Zoo. Kids were pretty excited to visit the zoo as well. We reached the zoo by 10:00. The zoo is close to the old fort(Purana Qila). We were happy to see empty parking lot. I guess anyone can beat the slow paced Delhites. We put our bags(carrying parathas, paneer and some of their American snacks!) on the back and Chiku in the stroller and started our zoo exploration. The ticket price for the zoo was pretty cheap, around 12 bucks. But we were not allowed to carry any food inside. It seems one of the animals recently died because people feeding.
Here is the score card for zoo

So here are the best parts of the zoo:
------------------------------------
The zoo was beautiful considering it is in a developing country.
It had ramps everywhere for handicapped access.
It is spread over an area larger than Toledo or Detroit zoo.
Good variety of animals like (giraffe,leopard, white lion, antelope, sloth and Himalayan bear, Rhino, monkeys, NeilGuy, Emu, tiger, elephants, wolf, hyenas, crocks, deer)
It was not crowded until 1 pm or so and later started getting packed.
There were beautiful spring colors on the trees and bushes.
All the animal habitats were big and safe.

Not so good parts of zoo:
-------------------------
Bad/not cleaned toilets(I complained to the officer on duty and he mentioned that it is due to Holi absent ism)
Too many alligators in the zoo.
Some of the animals were missing the description name plates.
Not very good arrangement outside the zoo for picnic.
Could have been made little better for little once with a little train or a play structure.
It is too much to walk for kids with no food to carry.

But overall not a bad experience at all. I would recommend that starting an early trip to any of the public places in India is a better alternative than getting stuck with masses.

toledo zoo no no, Delhi zoo

For those of you who know us really well also know that we have visited Toledo zoo million times for Sunny's obsession for animal facts or for any other reasons that we will not mention here!
We might visit Delhi Zoo pretty soon! All I need to find out is the Thai place to eat at after a tiring day at zoo. You know what I am saying.

Check it out
http://www.delhi-india.net/travel/nationalzoologicalpark.html

Drrriver

I guess I forgot to mention that the we got a driver for Innova. I am very happy with him so far. He gets a nice shiny white uniform from Monday. He comes with very high recommendations. Few advantages of having him are.

• He is born and brought up in Gurgaon so he knows every nook and cranny in town.

• He has worked on the farm for last 15 years, so gives me some confidence about his credibility.

• Since he has worked on the farm for so long he has visited all plant and office locations where manna works so it is an added advantage.
• He has kids exact same age as ours.(gives him more patience to work with mine)
• He stays 5 minutes away from the farm so commuting is not an issue

Well let's pray that this too good to be true driver lasts long!

Routine

So the kids finish first week of school already. Times flies. They have Friday off for the Good Friday. Kids love the school so far. It was a pleasant surprise that they adjusted so well to India and most importantly to school. I think it is because there is not a whole lot of culture difference between two schools. The kids are attending IPC curriculum at Amedeous High School. I will write a whole post about that later. Sunny's school hours are 7:45 am to 1:30 pm. Chiku has school from 9:15 to 1:30. They both use school transportation going to school and I pick them up in the afternoon. Sunny leaves home at 7:00 am and Chiku leaves home at 8:10 am. A Toyota Qualis comes to pick them up from the door. Chiku goes to school smiling and Sunny gets up from bed as soon as it is 6:00 o'clock in the morning because he does not want to be late to school. I pick them up from school at 1:30. We come home around 2:00 ish. Not a bad routine at all! They both have a lot to tell about their day when I am picking them up from school. They both finish their lunches and snacks in school everyday. Sunny is absolutely nuts about the soccer games that they play during the lunch break. When I pick him up he is soaking wet from playing with his friends. I feed them lunch at 2:30 ish and then they take a nap from 3:30 to 5:00 pm. In the evening after snack break we go to a park, go for a walk or go grocery shopping. We eat dinner around 8:30 and the kids are in bed by 9:00 pm.
I think this is a damn good routine for a week 2! Would you agree with me?

bol baby bol

Conversation between me and my 5 year old. According to him I should not be a home maker.
Sunny: "Do you go to business when we go to school?"
Me: "You mean do I work when you go to school?"
Sunny: "Yes do you work?"
Me: "No, I don't"
Sunny: "Mumma, Are you even looking for a job yet?"
Me: "No"
Sunny: "So you sit at home when Papa goes to work and we go to school?"
Me: "Yup"

Nawabi

The guest house that we are put up in is very well maintained. It is lush green with beautiful landscaping. There are horses and cows in the backyard. There are also peacocks in the backyard. We are given a two bedroom house with a living room and a dinning room approx. 1400 sq.ft. The kitchen is on the top floor of this house. There are FIVE people who work in the kitchen to serve us. The tea came to us in the tea pot and silver lined cups and saucers. The breakfast is pretty staple with cereal, fruits and eggs (of course anyway you want it). The lunch is served with FRESH WARM rotis, home made dahi, bhendi, green beans, dal and pulav. The dessert is fresh cut fruits. I love it and also feel that I deserve every bit of it after lot of years of slogging in US. The first time Chiku kept asking “why is this kaka (uncle who is serving us food) not eating with us?” We have been eating amazing meals! Manna thinks he should enjoy these days. I wonder why he thinks so?!

Ohh the Shiny Wheels

So I was taking a nap with my kids after their first day of school (March 17^th). I mean I get tired of dropping them off and picking them up! Someone knocks the door, when I come to the door there is a driver dressed in white company uniform who hands me a big bouquet of beautiful flowers, sweets and set of keys. These days everyday I get hospitality surprises so I thought this was another good gesture. He then congratulates me on a new car. I did not think it was for real so I did not have any expression on my face but when I go outside, Beige Toyota Innova, 7 seater is in our service. That was a very pleasant surprise. The company car is beautiful and spanking new. But we do not know how to drive again on Indian roads. I guess we will have a driver in couple of days so we will get to test drive it.

Back to school

This time it is not for kids, but for me. I am joining Maruti Udyog Driving School for driving lessons. I am being treated as an “Advanced Driver”. So I will start 8 days of school, from 11:00 am till 1:00 pm. I hope I do well on Indian roads agaon. Wish me luck and I will keep you posted.

Here are the details:

http://www.marutidrivingschool.com/advanced.html

Good resource to learn Hindi

http://www.hamsacreations.com

Sunny particularly liked it since it is audio-visual. Try it out

Monday Madness

Well you must be thinking what is so special about Monday the 17th. You are right, these days every day is a new adventure so why this one is a special one. Today kids had first day of school and Daddy had first day of work. As per the school schedule sunny's school starts at 7:45 am and Chicku's school starts at 9:15 am. Daddy was to report at 9:30 am. Both the kids need two tiffins. One for a snack with a fruit and something else and another one with proper lunch. We had managed to pack that one previous night. We also managed to get Sunny and Daddy ready by 7:00 am. Well after all the hustle bustle the Taxi driver was a no show. The nawab showed up at 9:00. Needless to say sunny was late to school by almost 2 hours and Chiku was late to school by 15 minutes. Chiku started crying after reaching school. But we left her crying since daddy had to rush to office since he was already running late. But of course going with our track record we did not get proper directions and reached office at 10:30.... Only an hour late so should be fine according to IST!


Verdict for 1 st day:

Sunny loved the school because they played soccer in the lunch break.

Chiku loved school because, I don't know, I guess because of two lunch breaks!

And Daddy liked work because it was way more organized than he had expected.

Learning's from Monday:

Traffic is horrible around 9:00 o'clock in Gurgaon. In Ann Arbor 9:00 was post peak period but not according to the relaxed northanites.

Gurgaon does not have traffic signals. Every big intersection is controlled by a police whom people seem to ignore like a stray dog on the street. So every intersection was clogged by people trying to rush without showing any courtesy to others.

Moral of the Story:

While fastening your seat belts please remember to be very selfish on the road and remember you are the only one who has to get to work and others are just killing time!