another beautiful year.... 1st May, 2013

The lil one called Ananya, is seven now. Another year with beautiful moments and memories has passed and we celebrated her turning seven, with a trip to Kodai. A great trip.
  The kids are having a wonderful time together, singing, acting, reading, partying, colouring, fighting, screaming, complaining, bonding again, adoring each other,loving, there is never a dull moment.
  Ananya's done with the Immortals of Meluha and the Secret of Nagas. Her dad's buying  the 'Oath of Vayuputras' for her. It's fun when Ananya and her dad borrow these novels from each other. I knew these things would happen eventually but, at the tender age of 7, I hadn't imagined!!!
   Mention Ugrasena or Devadutta or Drishtadyumna or any other name, not just the common Pandavas and Kauravas and Rama, and most likely, she has a story about the name. Lil Miss Ananya.... turning into an awesome storyteller........is a beautiful picture unfolding in front of our eyes....we are savouring every day.

The lil'er Miss Advaya seems to be enjoying singing something made up by herself, own tunes, own lyrics.........wow, can't get over it. She fixes her hands and feet in some posture she can think of, and calls it classical dance. Both the girls can perform classical dance to any song that is played:-)
     Advaya has become very expressive of her love towards Mama, Dada and Didu. One of the best ways in which she expressed her love for me was,'Mama, I love you soooooooo much, I will never kill you'!!!!!!!!!.Hahahhahahaaa. Thanks for that, darling.

Life is beautiful.


   

Advaya's third birthday in Pondicherry...

We wanted Advaya's Birthday to be celebrated at a,( what the kids call a HAPPY PLACE), beach. So, the four of us and the kids' ammamma and tata drove away to Pondicherry and enjoyed a four day trip. A couple of visits to the beaches, a boat ride on the backwaters of Chunnambar island, a brief, relaxing time at Paradise beach, a visit to auroville, mahabalipuram, chennai and kanchi....was how we did the trip. The kids had a great time and so did we. A birthday, different from the 'usual cake cutting, partytime with friends' thing. But that's we are trying all the time, to break away from the mould.

Why these loooong breaks di?

Posts getting fewer and fewer....Not liking it....but yeah, having greater fun.... having a feeling that my vocabulary wouldn't do justice to what I feel.... so restricting my posts to a very small number. The girls are doing so much while doing nothing. Ananya's a voracious reader. She reads anything and everything she can lay her hand on. Ramayana, Mahabharata, Panchatantra, fairy tales, stories from vedas, Enid Blyton, Ruskin Bond...just anything can keep her glued for hours. Even more beautiful is, the way she narrates the story to us, in a very compact, well structured,interesting paragraph. Advaya isn't any behind either. She has a great love for books and stories. She tries to pretend she's reading from a book, while telling us a story in her own words. She wants stories non stop and will go to anyone and ask for a story. The girls have a great love for music too. It's fun watching them sing and dance together. Their role playing is getting bigger and better.They have fun with anything and anyone. Touch wood!

Ananya's Sixth Birthday - Day at the beach.

Ananya's sixth birthday coincided with her Sreedhar mamu's engagement.Festive joy compounded. After the engagement ceremony in Vizag, we went over to Ichapuram and then to a nearby pristine beach. This beach was very clean and had natural sand dunes which the kids loved to hike! Had lots of fun.. Will post one pic shortly

Travelling.....our passion

We've been travelling whenever we got a chance......to attend social occasion, to meet family, or just sheer fun.A trip to taj kuteeram in Dec, a trip to a farm in jan, our travel to vizag in Feb and a trip to Lepakshi and Puttaparthi in March.Wow... that's the way we like it ....We love getting away from the city...Ananya is showing a great interest in the countryside and the greens and natural surroundings. Advaya is getting used to sitting in the rear seat and enjoying time with her sister. They read, talk, sing, dance to the music playing in the car....Not that they like being confined in a car, but they are trying to manage....because, the destination is what they look forward to.This past weekend, we went to Lal Bagh, and they had a great time collecting twigs and leaves, playing catch, playing with little balls, talking with other kids. Kids need no telling how to find ways to have fun.

Letters to Santa

To,
Santa Claus
North Pole

Dearest Santa

Please will you buy me a toy clock so that i can wake mamma and daddy whenever i want to go to the park.
Advaya wants a toy elephant.

I promise i will be a good girl always.
I will be good to my momma and daddy and sonu..
I will tidy up after playing
I will eat on my own without help from Momma and Daddy

Yours lovingly
Ananya and Advaya
17-Dec-2011

Note 1: I have asked my dadda to send this letter to you as he is in the US which is closer to the north pole
Note 2: Please send it early so that the gift arrives before christmas

Miles away but smiling together....

The kids have figured out means to keep their spirits high, even when missing Dadda badly. Ananya wakes up every morning, switches on the internet and the computer and logs on to Skype, says hello to Dadda and only then goes on to other activities. Lil Advaya too wakes up from sleep, rubbing her eyes and comes running to the computer, saying 'Good Morning Dadda'.They both don't like it that Dadda is away in the US on work but they are not cribbing. Instead, they have learnt to have good times with him online. Their storytime, music sessions, and all other activities happen online, undisturbed. What wonderful lessons kids teach us{ the educated, experienced adults) !!!
So much learning happening for me, these days, just have to keep my eyes and ears open.....Ananya is very happy staying at home and doesn't look like we are going to go back to school anytime soon. Lots of time together, the pressure free, stress free life is leaving us happier.So why think of any other?
Lots of surprises being cooked up, to welcome Dadda back on the 22nd. Ananya has done a lot of math, trying to count the number of days left for his return. Learning is everywhere!!! Every morning, she promptly reminds me the date and the number of days befor the 22nd. Now that the remainder is getting smaller, she is extremely happy. They are going to hug Dadda again after a patient, long wait of 45 days!!!

Mundan pics

Little Advaya had her mundan done on the day of Dusshera and her cute, fresh 'gundu'(shaved head) needed to be recorded here.
Advaya pre and post Mundan



Ananya didn't want to miss the fun and so,

Happy Bithday Dadda!!! Nov 10th

The kids were busy wrapping all that they thought was good enough to be presented to Dadda.A great, festive atmosphere filled the house and there was running around, making surprieses, decorating, and arranging toy tea parties and so much else that went into making Dadda Dear's birthday special. Every five minutes, the kids would run out of their room, and announce,'Come in and look what we made for you, Dadda!' and even before dadda could get himself to go to the room and make out what the surprise was, there would be another innocent, excited announcement.
We had a cute, little celebration in the evening. And, Dadda had his best birthday ever. And what bigger gift can a loving, doting Dadda expect, than little hearts filled with warmth and love and little faces filled with joy and excitement!!!

Wishing you multiplying love, happiness and peace for many, many, many years to come...........