Why this Yelagiri??

This year, we have a lot of holidays occuring either on Fridays or Mondays. Our first leave was on 26th Jan - thurday. We decided to take off on Friday and plan a long weekend trip. We decided to explore Yelagiri Hills, near Bangalore for 3 days. Dad and V decided to drive upto the hills and I took up the responsibility of booking the hotel.
We booked a cottage at Peter's Park in yelagiri hills. Google maps helped us drive upto the resort smoothly. The resort was indeed beautiful. We had booked a 2 BR cottage and got a parking place beside our house. The place was warm, nice and the staff were quite friendly. Little one seemed to be the most excited person and I found it hard to stop her from running around here and there. First day after reaching the resort, we had lunch, a small nap and then went to the Boat House. We took a walk around the lake and then met an uncle.
After dinner we roamed around for sometime before retiring to bed. The next day after breakfast, we decided to go to Swamimalai temple, a small trek from the foot of a hill. We didnt realise it was a tough trek and all of us started walking the path. We met some trekkers who just came down and told us that the entire trek would take atleast 3 hrs to climb up and then come down. Then we decided that just the two of us would walk up the hill. My parents and Aditi went out sightseeing other places - Nature Park and Murugan temple. The trek was quite tough as we didnt have proper shoes and our clothing was also not very apt, but we kept motivating each other and managed to reach the hill top in about 70 minutes. After clicking a few snaps, we started climbing down. I tripped twice and got my ankle hurt. We did manage to pluck few sprigs of avarekaayi (hyacinth bean) while descending.
The same day we managed to drive down another 100 kms to a place called Sripuram near Vellore. We visited the Golden temple there and it was very beautiful. We opted for the special darshan and managed to complete the darshan in about an hour and half time. We were also able to avail special puja and prasad due to special darshan ticket. We saw the lighting of the temple at 6.30 pm and then started back to our "picnic home" - thats what my daughter called our resort home at Peter's Park.
My feet were swollen after all the walking and I just decided to have a light dinner and just slept off. Next day, we met Mr. Peter's family at his residence, went on to Silk farm to see mulberry cultivation and soon headed back to Bangalore. On the way we had lunch at A2B. Overall it was a short and sweet trip - well deserved break from our hectic routine.

Flash Back 2011

Enter 2012...One more year passed by, time surely does fly.On personal front, happy to be reunited with V as he moved to Bangalore permanently. He also managed to join the same company that I work for. I had a really ugly experience in office with a colleague that finally turned out in my favour.Daughter turned two years and we did manage to visit a few places - Trivandrum, Shridi, Road trip to Tirupathi, friends day out in Murudeshwar. Plus we got to attend a few family weddings this year. The second half of the year was not so good, as mom was not well for sometime and took a while to get back to normal. Parents had a Delhi trip and daughter's school hunting. End of Dec, we got our increment letters and bonus. Something to be happy about. This year I have made a resolution to work out regularly and maintain a stable weight. Wish you all a very happy, healthy and prosperous new year.

Family Day

About 2 weeks back, our company organized a family day party at a nearby resort. I took my little one to the party. It was almost lunch time by the time we reached and she seemed to enjoy there. After playing some games, she got a mehndi design on her palm. Then one person started singing some songs holding the mike. That's when A told me that she too wanted to hold the mike and wanted to sing. I just brushed off her words, thinking she was just telling me. Then when she expressed her desire again, I took her words seriously and then told the organizers that A wanted to sing. The organizer then announced " A little princess named A will now sing a song. " My little one boldly went on stage held the mike and announced " Hi, I am Aditi, and I will sing a song." She started singing Laxmee baramma, Bhagyalaxmee baaramma.... and then suddenly felt so shy that she hugged me and told me that she will not sing further. Everybody started clapping and I couldnt believe that she actually held the mike and sang two lines.. She surely made me proud that day! Afterall she gave her first stage performance at the age of 2!!!

Stanley Ka Dabba

After a long time, me and V got a chance to watch a movie in theatre. On a weekday after completing work, we thought of spending some time together by watching Stanley Ka Dabba. This is a simple, honest, entertaining movie.. Though it is predictable at times the movie is enjoyable and in the end conveys a strong message. It was refreshing watch this kind of movie!

Bee Hive in my house

I went to Mumbai for a seminar on a weekend and on returning, found a big bee hive in my balcony. At first I couldnt believe that such a huge colony could be formed in just 2 days time. It was the first time i saw a hive from such a short distance and it was a site to see.. V was busy capturing its photos and videos. We kept our balcany door and windows closed, so that they dont accidentally enter our house.
My little girl seemed to be quite amused and would go to the window every now and then, point out at the hive and say "HuLu", meaning worm in kannada.
Every zzz sound would make me feel jittery as I thought a bee has entered my house. My mom happened to kill one when it entered our house and my little tried to play with it. Her next antic was to show how mom killed the fly - "pat" she would say and hit the sofa or chair to demonstrate. The uninvited guests stayed in our balcony for about a month. One day, when we were off for a weekend and returned back home, they were all gone..... My little one kept on asking where the HuLu went and I was releived.Their team building capacity is amazing!! They were able to build a huge hive in 2 days and also vanish off without a trace in another 2 days time... We humans definitely have to learn a lot from these busy insects!!!

Proud Mom

I cant help gushing around the antics of my little one. She will complete 16 months in the next few days and here is a small update on her
1. She is able to repeat the words i say like - Mamma, baby, akki, anna, chapathi etc. She is not able to clearly pronounce the words but make full attempt to speak clearly.
2. She is fond of travelling - i mean to say she like to go out of the house and roam around. As soon as I reach home, I have to take her out to the park for a walk and this has become a routine for quite sometime. She brings her slippers to me and sighs me to put it on and points out her finger at the door.After we step out, she knows to call the lift and press 0 inside the lift to go down. She smiles at me in a unique way trying to show that she has accomplished a big task. If i try to ignore her, she will scream loudly, cry and start rolling on the ground. She surely knows how to get things done from me.
3. She has a unique capability to get things done her way. At this age if she is able to do it then I must commend her. She knows how to behave with me, my dad, my mom and my spouse. She does everything my mom says to her and never troubles her. With my dad, she expects him to show her train (pronounced as taaain), show her animals, even big ants.
4. She is fond of animals and recognises these animals - dog, cow, buffalo, hen/cock, crow, butterfly and birds.
5. She starts dancing as soon as she hears good music. She twists her hands, shakes her leg and even sways her body. I think I should encourage her to learn dancing.
6. She knows how to hold a phone and pretends to talk over the phone. she pauses inbetween with a laugh, or a sigh, keeps looking at the phone in between just like us. If someone happens to observe her mobile manners from far, it would be hard tpo believe that she is just pretending.
7. She likes to watch TV and hands over the remote to me if she doesnt like the channel. She is fond of some ads and starts smiling and cheering even before we realise what ad is going to come.

Let me pause here for a while and continue later..

Little Big Girl

I don’t know whether it is necessary to use an oxymoron to describe my little one, but her behavior over last few days have really made me realize how fast my 14 month old baby is able to learn things and quite mature for her age.
Here are a few instances.
- After having a cup of tea or a glass of water, if I tell her to put the used glass in the sink, she promptly grabs the cup and carefully walks all the way till the kitchen and carefully puts the glass or cup into the sink and comes back cheerfully.
- She clearly understands what I tell her and promptly obeys my words like – switch off lights or fan (and yes! she can make out the difference between the two)
- She will bring in any stuff that I ask for – book, remote, toys, newspaper, towel and some clothes. If I ask her where are her clothes or diaper – she points out a finger in that direction and waits for my approval to bring it to me.
- She knows different animals too. Cow(as ambaa),dog(as bow bow)and hen(as ko ko)
- She folds her hands in bhakti whenever she sees a picture of God. My hubby was spell bound when he saw her folding hands and bowing her head as we were passing by a temple.
I could add a few more points, but got to get back to work now. I will soon find more time in add in more things.