Talkathon

• I told my kid, "Kanna, amma's back is paining ra suddenly". She didn't react much except, "painingaa". Then, after about 5 minutes, (When I myself forgot about that), she asked "Back paininga?"...I was so,so touched at her enquiry and it sure did a great thing to my mind/emotions than to my back:-)
• She was pestering me to come and play with her when I was busy in the kitchen doing the nightly cleanup chores. I told her, "Kanna. Give amma 5 minutes. I will wash this cooker and come". As soon as I finished this sentence, she asked me, "Ayipoyinda?" (Is it over?)...When will kids learn the concept of time? :-)
• I have the bad habit of biting nails (Yes, I know it is a bad habit, but still I do it). My madam (read-daughter) told me, "Don't bite nails. Dirty dirty". Atleast for her, I should stop this dirty habit and I have started it from this moment that I am writing this post :-)
• She has started questioning a lot, as is common in this age. She keeps asking, "What is this amma, What is that amma. Why amma?". As usual, during one of our conversations during bedtime, she pointed to pillow and asked, "What is this amma?".

Me: This is pillow.

She: What is pillow amma?

Me: Pillow is an object.

And the conversation led to me saying the following so that I can teach her the concept of objects.

Me: P******** is a girl. Ni****** is a boy. V**** is a girl. Pillow is an object. Fan is an object. Bed is an object.

She: What is tree amma?

This question led me into a thinking mode. What should I tell a tree is? It is not an object. It is not a boy/girl. I just told her something (Don't remember what) and she didn't probe further :-)

Kids do really make us think about things...

Teachers' Day craft

Given as an idea from my SIL to gift the teacher something for Teachers' Day, me and my daughter ventured out to make something for my daughter's school teacher. So, I went shopping to get some craft items, googled to find out easy-to-make crafts for a 3 year old kid, and decided to do a bookmark.

The cutting was done by me. I held my daughter's hands to write the message. The colouring and the sticking was done by my kid. And so was born the first official gift done by my kid :-)

I told my daughter around 7-8 times that she has to tell "Happy Teachers' Day" the next morning in school and give the gift. She nodded her head nicely and also, the next day, she told me that she wished so. God knows what is the truth :-)

And here is the bookmark that was made... 

The next day, the teacher wrote in her diary, "Thanks for the bookmark. It is very cute and I am happy to receive it".

The first official PTM

Aug 3, 2012: The first official PTM in my daughter's school for PlayGroup-II. Her time slot was 10.20 AM-10.30 AM.

The first thing that the teacher told me as soon as I sat was "She has a lot of energy na?" (Coincidentally, my kid was running and playing with other kids who were waiting for their PTM turn). I smiled and said, "If I had 25% of the energy she had, I would have managed her".

Some other points mentioned in the PTM are as follows:

• She is very observing. She notices what the teacher does for her activity and does the activity quickly. Then, she goes around the class to see what other kids are doing :-)
• She does not sit in one place when she is free and is always mobile. She gets extra enthusiastic when going for playground activities and rushes for her turn.
• She eats her food herself most of the times, and says potty time also.
• Her teacher said this precisely, "Extremely intelligent".
• There is a girl by name N****** in her class. She is quite tiny for her age it seems. So, my daughter (or for that matter, all the other kids in the class) treats her as a baby. My kid is extra-caring about her. When N****** comes to class, my kid stops what she is doing, goes to N****** and brings N****** to her seat. If any other kid tries to sit near N******, my kid does not allow them. She is so possessive about N****** :-)
• One strange thing the teacher said she found in my kid was that she was not able to associate kids with their names. And also, even though she plays with kids, she does not talk to them. On her 3rd birthday (July 26th), I had given sweets for her to distribute to her friends. When the teacher told my kid to give it to each child (specifying the child by name), my kid was unable to associate them with names. But the teacher feels she will outgrow them. What I think is, we do not use names to identify people at home. Its only relationships. May be, she did not grasp the concept that each child, just like her, has a name. But, one another thing is she identifies her flatmates with their names. And all the cartoon characters she watches, she knows by name. I am not able to understand why she is not able to identify her classmates with their names...
• My kid sometimes goes and hugs her teacher and talks with her it seems.
• She enjoys singing rhymes.
• Finally, the teacher said that there is absolutely no problem with my kid in anything else and is perfectly ok in class.

I had a good experience in the PTM, with the teacher giving some good feedback (and interesting too) about my kid :-) and hope and pray things go on fine for my beloved :-)

Milestones

Some of the milestones in my daughter's life:

• Started drinking formula from bottle - When 2 months of age
• First air travel - Just before completing 3 months of age (Prior to that, during 7th month in mommy's womb, while travelling from UAE to India)
• Mottai and ear piercing - 7th month at Thiruthani, Tamil Nadu, India
• During the end of 12th month - Started walking without support (This turned out to be the day after we got her a walker :-) )
• Stopped mommy's milk - 15 months (No special effort from mommy, Baby grew responsible herself :-) )
• Started waking up lesser number of times during nights for feeds - Around 15 months (kind of Coincided with stopping mommy's milk)
• First playschool attended - around 1yrs 8 months (At Abu Dhabi). Got settled in her school in around 10 days. But she continued it only for just 2 months or so, as she was getting infected with fever and cold very very often, and we had to travel to India as well, and hence discontinued it.
• Started calling me "amma", completely grasping the concept that I will respond if she calls me so - 2 yrs 3 months
• Second playschool at Bangalore - 2.5 yrs (For 3 months, from Jan 2012). Following that, she went to Summer camp in the same school during April and May 2012
• Proper preschool at Bangalore - 2 yrs 11 months (Called Playgroup-II in that specific school) -- Amazingly happy to go to school and asks "amma school" the first thing even on weekends :-) and asks what is in the "box" (Lunch box). Double happy if I say "Noodles"
• First PTM - In the above school, sometime during March 2012
• Potty training to an extent - 2 yrs 9 months (The day after I got her the book "Once Upon a Potty-Girl" and started reading it to her)
• Completely potty trained - 2 yrs 11.5 months (After she started going to the above PG-II school, she had become specific to go the job only in the toilet, even if she is in diaper)
• Lot of English speaking - 2 yrs 11 months (When she was about to complete her summer camp. English and her talking increased a loooooot after she joined her PG-II)
• First birthday which she really enjoyed and realised - Her 3rd birthday (Princess theme)
• Stopped wearing diapers before sleeping in the night - Just when completing 3 years of age. Mommy became confident to leave her sans-diaper during nights, only after the 3rd Birthday.
• Started calling her mom, "amma" in the cutest way possible -- A long awaited one, when she was 2yrs 3 months old. Yes, I know, it was a bit late when I was expecting it to happen much earlier. But, she did it :-) And I was T-O-T-A-L-L-Y out of the world when she did it :-)...And from that time, I have been hearing it from her INNUMERABLE number of times when we are around with each other :-)

Recent updates

Some recent updates from my daughter's activities...I think I am missing some ones, as she is talking more these days :-)...Should make it a point to update this blog with all of them, frequently...

Advice from daughter to mom when the latter is trying to make the former sleep as the former has school the next day..."Pranati telling, Go to sleep. Tomorrow office. Ok?"

Last fortnight's comments from her teacher - "P..... often rushes through colouring. She can do better colouring. She takes active part in general conversations". The next day, I asked her teacher through my daughter's diary what "General conversations" means. She replied back saying, "What did you have for breakfast?", "Talk about fruits", "What is your favourite food?"... I understood that my daughter does a lot of general conversation regarding food...hee hee hee...

She has got very well potty-trained for the past around 1.5 months. Even if she is on a diaper, she insists she wants to do "those" things only in the toilet. I do not know how I am going to manage if we go out somewhere and she is on a diaper :-)

She liked the potato+onion masala sandwich that I packed her yesterday to school. There were no remains. One more addition to her lunch box recipe, and one deletion of my tensions-list of what to prepare for her lunch :-)

She has started to become very expressive of her feelings. The other day she was telling her grandparents, "P....... is angry. Don't talk to me. Go to room".

She has picked up Shloka (Saraswathi Namasthubyam) very nicely. Night times (When we are on bed, ready to start the process of sleeping) are the times when I teach her the shlokas when she seems to be very attentive to me. For 2-3 days, I was teaching her this shloka. She would have repeated word-by-word after me, for around 8 to 10 times max. And yesterday, I just tried asking her to tell it herself...Voila!! She did it...I was on cloud nine. She was using the same intonation that I used to teach her...Children are really sponges. I understood that...

I was playing the videos from our camcorder featuring her as a baby, as young as 5 to 9 months. She was delighted to see the "baby", as she calls herself. She is not aware that that baby is only herself :-)

School Tales

My daughter has officially started going to a playschool from June 11, 2012. Here are some updates from her school front during the past one month:
--She is enthusiastic about her school, right from Day One. The enthusiasm is to such an extent that if I want to briber her to get something done from her, I say "If <>, no school tomorrow", and she does the job most of the times.

--Met her teacher one day. And she seems to be very caring and patient enough with kids. And patient enough with me also, that she replies all of even my smallest queries in my daughter's diary.

--My daughter is very eager to go by her school's mini-bus. It is a great pleasure to see the way she climbs actively on to the bus and say good-bye to me.

--Her school gives fortnightly report listing out what has been taught in school in the past 2 weeks and what is planned for the next two weeks. They also send the activity sheets done by the kids.
1st Fortnight report feedback: She is very cheerful. And enthusiastic about all the activities. Please converse with her in English.
2nd Fortnight report feedback: Excellent coloring.

And they have given around 7 activity sheets in the past two fortnights. The assistance level rating marked in all the sheets is "Nil". Those are moments of pride to see such results/feedback. Touch wood, God bless her !!!

--Her school van comes at 7.30 AM. I have to wake her up by 6.45 AM to get her ready to go the van on time. Sometimes, she feels so sleepy at that time and acts cranky for either - wearing her dress, brushing her teeth, drinking milk or taking bath. Sometimes, she demands all "Ramarajan" colours for her dress -- Green color t-shirt with green color pant...Whatever I say will not enter her mind in that cranky moment...Somehow, those days, I need to manage to get her ready and send her to school :-) Thinking of those now makes me smile, but in the mornings, it is a full-of-tension period :-)

--I put a cap on her head and asked her what is on your head? She replied "Hair". Is she right or wrong? Now, I am confused :-)

--I made her noodles for school today, and told her so. After sometime, I asked her "What will you do in school today?" for which she replied "School-a eat noodles"...As if she is going to school only to eat noodles...LOL

Will upload some photos of her craft activities at school...

The talks

A small note before we start this blog post...
My toddler has been talking complete sentences - in Telugu, in English and in Tinglish (Telugu+English), for the past few months. And, day-by-day, her talking skills seem to be increasing with her making analyses before talking something...Or in short, she has started comprehending better each day. So, on that note, here is a  list of sentences heard from my toddler in the past few days:

--Latest: Yesterday night...
Me: You should go to school tomorrow, right? It is time to sleep now.
She (after sometime when I assumed she is in the process of sleeping): Go to office amma, time to sleep.
Her Highness is instructing me that it is time to go to sleep, as I have office tomorrow :-)

--She, to her great grand-mother: "No TV now", and switches off the TV coolly.

--Me: What did you do in school today?
She: Friends-ni push-push chesthini. Teacher aunty Bad girl cheppindi (I pushed my friends and hence my Teacher aunty told that I am bad girl)
(On a positive note, I confirmed with her teacher whether she (my kid) pushes her friends. To my satisfaction, the teacher told that she does not do all that. I wonder where these kids get imagination to answer questions)

--Once, when she had temperature and puking, I had given her medicines for both (at around 11 PM). She went and told her grandparents, "Naaku neck-la hot hot undi. Mandu thaagithini" (I am having hot-hot in my neck. I drank medicine)..

--Another latest: Day-before-yesterday...
Me: Its raining...Do not go outside kanna.
She: Rain rain undi...Umbrella kaala naaku...Walk-walk go...(Rain is there. I want umbrella. Want to go walking)
She wants to implement the usage of umbrella and still go walking in the rain.

--My mom's place is duplex house. There are 2 TVs- One in the ground floor and one in the first floor. Since she was very naughty, my mom switched off the TV in the ground floor and told her that power is off and hence she cannot see TV. She replied, "Up-la current undi. Thatha on chesi" (TV is there "up" -- ie. in first floor. Thatha will switch it on). My mother could not reply anything for this answer of my daughter :-)

--My daughter was doing some activity when my grandmother had a cough while eating. The little one stopped her activity, came to her great grandmother and told "Appa thaagu, appa thaagu" (Drink water, Drink water). Sometimes, kids and elders change roles, I think :-)

Planning to update this post with more of her talks as they come by...

Pleasing words

I had an oil burn on my left hand last Sunday, when I was frying papads in oil. It is a pretty bad burn with the back of my palm almost half-black. I really wish the scar goes away and does not stay.
So, day-before-yesterday, my daughter, while playing with me, rubbed her hand against my left hand, which made me lose my life and come back to life again (Literal translation of: "Uyir poi thirumba vandudu). I told, "Kanna, its paining". She saw me for a few seconds, went inside her room fastly, opened the right cupboard and got a medicine and gave it to me saying, "Mandu vesuko. Uvva poyesunu" (Put medicine. Wound will go away). You know what medicine she got? The one that I give her if she has stomach upsets and vomiting :-) So ignorant and pleasing of a child to act like this...I really felt pleased at this act of her.
My baby-sitter was also telling me a similar thing. She told my baby-sitter to take the medicine to her home and take it, if she (baby-sitter) was not willing to take it at our place.
And yesterday, again she rubbed her hand on mine. I cried "ohhh". She said, "Sorry amma, sorry". I said, "Its ok kanna". Then she asked me, "Uvva poyesinda?" (Has the wound gone?), as if her telling "sorry" is the medicine :-) Nevertheless, I was pleased once again at her cute words...

A new Ramayana

A thought struck me that I will use this blog to update my daughter's day-to-day progress, activities, talks, dramas, injuries, and many things she is newly exposed to each day...She is going to complete three years of age next month.

Let me start with her version of Ramayana...

Around a week back, I started telling a very very concise version of Ramayana, which starts directly like this: Sita Akka (Sita is Akka as per my daughter) is in forest. She sees a beautiful deer. She asks Rama to go and get that deer. Rama leaves but does not come even after a long time. So, Sita akka sends Lakshmana to see what happened, and Lakshmana tells her "I will draw a line. You should not cross that line till I come back". Sita says "Yes". After Lakshmana leaves, the bad uncle Ravana comes to Sita Akka's house and asks her "I am getting rumbly in my tumbly (my kid's word substitute for getting hungry, inspired by Winnie The Pooh episodes). Please give me some food". Sita goes inside the kitchen and gets a cup full of food and gives it to Ravana from the other side of the line. Ravana says " I will take the food only if you cross the line and give it to me". So, Sita akka crosses the line. That time, Ravana catches her, and fly-flys her to Sri Lanka. Rama and Lakshmana come to know that Ravana has taken away Sita. So, they go to Hanuman for his help. Hanuman, being a strong god, helps them to cross the sea by putting big stones on the water. They go to Sri Lanka and ask Ravana to send Sita back to their house. Ravana says "No I won't send Sita back". So, Ravana and Rama fight. Rama, being the god, wins the fight and they come back to their house in Ayodhya. This story is called Ramayana.

I had been telling this story for 3-4 times to her over the past week. One day, while telling the story, I asked her who was the bad uncle who took away Sita. She said "Kamsa uncle" (Confusing with Krishna story). Then, I asked which God helped Rama to bring back Sita. She said "Narasimha jeja" (jeja meaning God in Telugu)...I could not control my laughter and wondered how ignorant and kids can be. She created her own Ramayana by having characters from different eras :-)

Summers and the sizzlings

Yes, it is here, our summer...Bangalore, or Bengaluru, is no different from Chennai that is known for its high thermometer readings.

In Bengaluru, its heat, everywhere and everytime.

Bulleting the sizzlers of Summer:

• Fans rotating in the highest speeds of 5...And the noisy-noise that it makes irritates you so much times...Oh inventors!! Please invent some noiseless fans...Or, am I obsolete? (I still remember that this word "obsolete" was taught by my elder brother at a point when I did not know its meaning, and I had to look out for the dictionary to get its meaning)
• Frequent calls of your throat to soothe it with some hydrogen-di-oxide
• Poor plants sogging out of heat and requesting more of water, may be, twice a day
• Panting and grunting as soon as you come out of your bath, which makes you tired, as against the notion that a bath has to refresh you up
• Frequent visits to the refrigerator to open that up that "Slice" or "Frooti" bottle and take a supposed-to-be-smaller-but-end-up-big sips :-)
• Ooooooooo...Mangoes...The king of fruits (Getting a doubt if Mango is the king of fruits, or is it jackfruit?..Whatever, let us assume for the time-being that mango takes the crown) everywhere on the streets and shops - circular, oval, big, small, all shapes and colours of mangoes that makes you think, "Let us forget about diabetes and relish this fruit only during summer"
• Shopping for my kid specially for summer wear - sleeveless, cotton wear in which she will look cute as well as feel comfortable
• Whenever there is a visit to a place that has an ice-cream parlour, there is a feeling to make my kid enjoy the ice-cream without worrying of cold as it is only summer and the chances of she getting a cold is less (they say ice-cream and colds are not linked, but coincidentally, she has got cold in twice of the occasions earlier when she had ice-cream...What am I supposed to do?)
• Search for your goggles and adorn them on your face
• Seek for the thrown-away friend, our umbrella, to put it into best use
• Get motivated to go somewhere for some wonderful photography in the bright sun

The list  goes on and on...Welcome Summer !!! Welcome Brightness !!!

Summer camp

Born as a cute little baby, I am surprised at the way she has grown up to a 2.5+ year old girl...I am talking about my daughter. Till this day, I remember the day of my delivery, remaining afresh in my memory like a super-chip of Intel. Growth happens very fast, before you realise what is happening to your teeny-weeny baby bundle.

She was so dependent on me from A to Z (to any other imaginable alphabets) of her needs, and now she poses as if she knows everything and is so independent :-)
She has started involving in activities so much that I need to think on terms of how to engage her during her summer vacation. I need to make arrangements for her to go to a summer camp at her school so that she does not feel "bored" at home...Can't imagine that kids grow up so big that they get the feeling of boredom also.

Enquired in her school about the summer camp and going to pay the summer camp fees today, so that my kid enjoys her two-month vacation in spite of the scorching sun who does his duty of shining extra-bright during summers !!!

Have a great summer camp, my baby darling !!!

A sense of freedom -- Bus Vs Scooter

For the past around one month, I have been pushed into a sort-of-cruel act (???) of going in a public bus. Anybody who is a regular traveller in a bus would definitely agree with me. All the pushing, a few angry moments with the driver and the conductor, watchful eyes on who boards and descends the bus, an ultimate search and wait to get a seat, and the list goes on...All this is accompanied with the bus travel...But, when you get a seat and get to hear songs on your headphones, or read your favourite novel, then the bus travel is one to be really cherished. The human mind is very partial, right?

Ok, let me come to the point...I got a chance to come to my workplace in my dad's two-wheeler today..And whoa!! what a relief...Took me just around half hour (yes, half hour in a bus and half hour in a scooter differ ocean levels)...More than the time and more than the traffic issues, the sense of independence and freedom that you get when you come by your own means is amazing...Its as if raising up your collar and saying, "Wow...I did it"...Though there is no big achievement in coming in a two-wheeler, still, as I said before, one who has been doing bus travelling will definitely appreciate this point-to-point travel done by their own means.

And I really wish to have more of these independent moments in the future, when I can avoid the fatigue and a sense of ooooph's of coming by a bus...

Ribbon cut of my Project 365

After an year of waiting, finally during the end of December 2011, I decided I will try out the Photo Project 365. I was quick enough to create an account and my hands were restless to do something on the "Upload" option in the website...But then, wait, another week to go, and I decided I will start when 2012 dawns. As a prelude, I googled for tips on project 365s, photography tips and others' Project 365s. Then I found the best tip of all..."If you are not able to do a Project 365, do a Project 52"...Yes, a-photo-a-week instead of a-photo-a-day. Of course, that has to be possible. Will I not get atleast one shot worth of photography per week? So, putting on my pessimistic hat (yes, I have to be optimistic, I know...But, quite difficult to control our mind sometimes), I thought that I will continue Project 52 if my Project 365 goes to a toss. But I am quite optimistic and energetic in starting this project...And just make sure that I open up my eyeballs in a creative and a watchful way to make this project of mine a success...Let me hope that my thumbnail section in the Project 365 site is filled with some good pictures, which I can look upto in the future to have a glimpse of my past days.........
And this is my project here:
http://365project.org/reks/365

Christmas bells are ringing

A certain bell rings in your ears on the mention of the name Christmas.

And well, ya, a lot of bells do rang me in my ears this year (or probably, I let my ears hear them this year)

A beautiful, thin, tall Christmas tree in-the-making in the Forum Mall at Bengaluru...

Shades of white and red in many places that my eyes caught sight...

My kid's white-and-red Santa cap, that looks good not only on Santa, but even more beautiful on my kid (yes, I know, mothers feel their kids are the most beautiful ;-))...

A mailer from our Fun group at our company, saying that we need to come in red and/or white attire on 23rd which happens to be last working day before Christmas...

"Secret Santa" game organized by one of my friends at office, and people starting to get excited at the prospects of getting some good gifts through the game...

And one guy from office asking, "What is the fun in this game"?...Which makes us say, "Come on...Its Christmas, and you are asking what the fun is"...

A little disappointment wavering among every office-goer that Christmas is going to be on a Sunday and they don't get a holiday on a weekday...

Christmas-related activities for kids in Apple-of-my-i baby store...

And that's what Christmas is all about -- Fun, frolic and Santity-clausy feelings :-)

Merry Christmas everyone, and a happy 2012 !!!

The Honeymoon period

Well, the marital honeymoon is four-and-half years old for me. So, that is not what I am talking about. This is about the honeymoon period in a company after you take up your new job there. Its just one day less than a month that I joined my new organisation. Everything is new - starting from your work, your cubicle-mates, company policies, your manager, everything, just like your spouse after an arranged marriage.

I am realising this honeymoon period more than my previous places of work. And there are newcomers around me to keep reminding me about their company-honeymoon period. This is the major area of discussion during all the munch breaks. I should say I am in my partial honeymoon period here, because I got some work assigned. My friends are in a total honeymoon, just like a total eclipse covering off the moon or the sun -- except that the enjoyable eclipse here is that they get full cover from their future to-be-work :-)

Nevertheless, this period is going on good, browsing the Intranet sites, reading policy after policy, keeping up-to-date (or atleast try to) on current affairs by browsing all news sites, (No facebooking/orkutting, mind you, all those are banned, even mail sites) etc. etc.

Everyone, including me, are waiting for the transition phase where we actually work to give respect to our bulk bank accounts that smile during the end of the month. At that time, I am sure, we all will have nostalgic feelings regarding our ex-honeymoon period...Till then, we will enjoy this :-)

Navarathri Golu 2011

Wow...Today is the 8th day of 2011's Navarathri and all the dolls there in our living room, in a couple of days, are going to go back to sleep for another 1 year.
Navarathri, I felt, brings about a sense of energy flowing in you and your surroundings. May be it might be because of the ritual you follow every morning - do the pooja before having your breakfast and other daily Navarathri special rituals - or it might be because of those miniature people sitting in the Golu steps, constantly seeing you, or might be because of  the people coming in to your house to get Thamboolam and say, "Wow, your golu is very nice", this and that...Or, it might be because of the constant watch you have on the kids of your house and those of the relatives so that they don't disturb the main Golu :-)...Or, might be because of the regularity of making either "sundal" or a dessert for "Prasaadam"...Or, personally for me, it might have been because of making my kid ready every morning by making her wear new dresses, paavadais and matching jewels.


The exact reason might be any one of the above, or out of the above, or a combination of both. Nevertheless, I enjoyed this year's Golu and I am looking forward to the next one. May be, it might turn out to be a better one than this year's...Let us always hope for the best (Usual saying by everyone, but unusually very much true)


Here are some snaps of our Golu this year...

 The above park is actually a mode of distraction for the kids (there are a total of 4 kids in our apartment, including my daughter -- all of them of age lesser than 2.5 years) so that they play with the animals, the grass and other items in the park and do not touch the main idols...
Idea Courtesy: My Sis-In-law... And indeed, this idea worked superb. 95% of the time, the kids were contended with this park, and the remaining 5%, we were able to manage and there were no casualties for the main idols  :-)

The Friday Special

Living in the UAE, its not a rare thing to see people doing Namaaz even in the scorching sun. And there comes Friday afternoon...Everyone is out near the nearest mosque with their prayer mats and filling themselves with the rays of the Sun and the Almighty... A nice sight of devotion added with the colorful array of the prayer mats :-)

The people in the above photo are actually sitting on the road in front of the mosque (To be more precise, its near the parking lot but where there is a lot of vehicle movement)

And above is only a part of the swarm of people leaving the mosque after the Namaaz...

Whole Wheat Pizza

After a long search for the exact Pizza recipe which turns out to be really good, I got one from here: http://www.rakskitchen.net/2010/03/home-made-pizza.html

The pizza made was really good. But, there was a constant guilt factor that kept pestering me that it was full of all-purpose flour which is notorious for its not-so-good-for-health status. So, there I was, hitting the "Enter" key on Google Search for a whole wheat based pizza, but could not get my hands on such a good thing. (Or rather, I wanted to try out something on my own).

Then, I thought I will modify the recipe from the above given link, so that it was 2 parts whole wheat flour and 1 part all purpose flour. And, there I was in the kitchen, making the healthier pizza.

To tell you the truth, it was not entirely like the pizza made from all-purpose flour. The wheat flavour was apparent, but nevertheless, it was good and more than the taste, it was 60% "I am eating healthy" feeling :-) It made our stomachs a bit heavy also, and we had to reduce our dinner intake that day by almost 75% (I did the pizza at around 6 pm)

So, now I have a good recipe on my hands which I can readily share with others. And below is the final product...

Yes, you are right...Those are mango pieces on the right half of the pizza...I should never forget that my husband is a huge mango fan and he wanted those pieces...I was not so adventurous like him and the left half is me and my kid's half :-)

And this is the yeast-milk etc mixture made in the beginning of the process. This bowl has a base that is heart-shaped and the mixture took that shape. Giving you a chance to see not a bleeding heart, but an yellow heart :-)

May29 Resolution

Who said there has to be only a new year or a birthday resolution? There can be a resolution on any day of the year and here is mine, on the 29th of May, Two thousand and eleven :-)


Reading many blogs, I feel like I should regularly update my blog as well. But, laziness kicks in and I, of course, succumb to it. Whom has laziness spared? (Or, is that an excuse I give myself?)


Anyway, coming to the point, a sudden spark of thought in my head told me that I should update my blog regularly (remember the resolution I talked about earlier?) and here I am writing it (hoping there would be someone in the cyber world to read it...Else, I will visit my blog myself and increase the "No. of times visited" count.. LOL)...


Anyway, coming to the point AGAIN, I have decided to update my blog with not only paragraphs, but also with photographs and recipegraphs...Interesting ones that happen in my day-to-day life...So, one day, sometime in, may be, the year 2020, when me and my daughter browse the web together, we can see at my blog and have a giggle together...No wonder she will pull my leg asking me, "What amma...You were so out of technology, writing blogs and all?"...May be, during her time, many more unumaginable things would happen...What say?


Ok.... Here you go...

Q's to Him

Lot of times, I have wondered how things happen and how God has been such a miracle in creating wonders...Some of them are here...

--A live video of a baby inside a womb when it kicks and goes around
--Snapshots of how the early man did his early chores
--The first e-mail sent through a proper e-mail service
--The exact count of species of all living things...Mind you...ALL living things, from the smaaaaaaaaalllllest to the laaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrgest in this world (excluding flora)
--The working of the brain and how information passes so quickly when there is someone's touch on your skin
--The working of the various systems in the human body
--Journey of a person after his death
--What's there on top of the blue sky and down under the ground?

The list could be endless and am sure you will have even more questions like this...Let us keep pondering and let Him see our blogs and answer them :))))