Bad cold etc

AL has a bad cold since Friday. I didnt feel like sending her to daycare wiht her stuffy nose so stayed home with her today. She is a darling! Looks like its allergies as her eyes were watering and same time P also felt he was coming down with allergies and he eventually did. It has struck me also and I have a sore throat.

I sent AG as she really wanted to go and show off her new shoes to school teachers she was all excited about it. It was funny how we had to convince her last night she cannot sleep with her shoes on or holding them in her hand, she finally agreed to leave it under the bed and wear it in the morning and which she religiously did sharp at 6:30am :-) Thought how we could have cross checked such stories with my Mother-in-law had she been there to relate her nature with P when he was as young as her, there are so many anecdotes I cant keep up with and make notes about them...

One of our good friend's had a baby boy last Friday, their second born and we really liked the name of the baby, it was one of my shortlisted names also if we were to have a boy. They were craving for a girl second time at least as they had a boy already but alas! Its raining boys almost 3-4 families in our friends circles have had boys or are expecting a boy. Its a phase some months all you hear is boys then its all girls.. :-)

Interestingly a colleague of mine was commenting the other day how lucky we are to have 2 daughters. Initially everyone thinks there is no difference between a girl and a boy and to some extent some people secretly only want to have a boy but when you are retired you realize how valuable daughters are and the companionship they offer. I was a bit surprised as he has no kids and even still he voted for daughters anyday. Thats pretty cool anyway.

Holi 2013

After maybe 13 years enjoyed our first Holi celebration last Saturday. Due to weather typically in New England they celebrate it few weeks after. So the whole community got together about 20-30 families, all Indians and celebrated in the community park. It was a huge potluck gathering with music, food and colors. We met a lot of new people from the neighborhood, kids of all ages was a lot of fun. Seriously! Loved this whole community bonding here! They are starting more activities for summer.

A&A played a little and didn't want to get messy. It was only dry colors and no water colors involved. But still this was their first holi and they keep talking about it :)

PANEER!

We are not a huge fan of frozen meals. Somehow never got to liking it. In fact peas are the only vegetables I use frozen cos I am forced to as we dont get fresh 'peas'. Frozen parathas are our last absolute last back up at home. I cook fresh food everyday which is a challenge here in the US as you have to stock your grocery in advance unlike India where you will fnd it round the corner at a store. But I go the extra mile and make sure we use fresh veges except peas. I am sure it works well for some women and I respect that, never worked for us...

P really wanted to try Haldiram's paneer tikka and I wasnt so sure. I loveeeeee paneer so didnt want to take a chance of disliking a paneer dish BUT it was awesome. Totally recommend it hopefully they maintain the taste.

Cooking routine

I am a fairly decent cook but for some reason Tea and making rotis were two things I never attempted since I started cooking in 2005 after wedding. I have made very complicated and time consuming recipes so I am not sure why I avoided these two.

I am a tea drinker I love my typical desi chai. I started using the tea bags although didnt give the same taste. Finally in 2-3 years started making tea, properly boiled with mil and sugar etc. I can finally claim I make decent tea for some time now.

Recently I started my roti making project. Its been a month and I have made great progress. I have used up for the first time a 5 kg bag of chapati atta in almost a little over a month. I started making the typical south Indian version of chapatti, the thick ones with many folds. Then graduated to basic roti. The main reason has been gas stove and tava. Past 7 years one the electric stove not sure why I never was motivated to make rotis. I have a goal and hope I get there in 2-3 months.

I am really content with the past cooking routine. Especially with rotis since unlike working women in India you do not have any help here (not that I am complaining I feel the kitchen hands or maids make you lazy, bossy and create depdendency on them!). So right from making the dough and cutting vegetables, loading, unloading dishwasher, cleaning the house, folding heaps of laundry etc is a lot of work and time. 

Although its a lot of cooking at once at night as I cook lunch next day to take to work, since mornings are unpredictable with the twins, feeding breakfast getting them all ready to goto school the whole routine can be smooth to a lot fo work depending on how they feel altough its getting better due to less cold etc with the weather improving, you never know ;), so I dont want to take a chance hence I cook lunch in advance and refrigerate it. That way it helps me prioritize and focus only on the girls in the morning.

Respect

Past 2 weeks the response from the forces has been amazing. The way the whole operation was conducted to catch the suspect. The way the Mayor the Governor conducted themselves, reassuring to the public. Its been truly amazing to watch. American citizens are lucky to have such discipline, rigor, respect from the Government and services and in return you get more respect and awe from citizens in such tough situations. Politics is the same everywhere, but quality of politicians differs. Somewhere there is a tinge of sadness and little bit of jealousy when I see this, I feel I wish back home in India we could have similar people working with passion and care. I wish I could be a little more confident that wrong doers will not go scott free but be punished and pay for the wrong things they do. I know things are improving and I have faith like million others in India in the system and the ever increasing population of the youth in India.

Past week on the freeway there were Thank you notes to the public for the patience and co-operation. It was very comforting. Then whenever I see some cops around it reminds you of the young policeman who was unnecessarily killed at MIT by suspects. Maybe I have been smitten by the media bug the way they portray things, I also agree that it was unfair that the Iraq bombings did not get media attention, but I am appreciating the fact that they bring in that respect and awe to the system and show you the value of "lost lives" in ones' country.

past week..

So its been a rollercoaster week. Media and events have left us pretty disturbed. So Friday was so action packed out here. To think about a city very close to where we lived for the last 7 years before we moved here was under lock-down to find a suspect from the bombings on the loose. Glad they found him although it seems to be like the event may not be part of a bigger plot, just the how people acquire the means and support to get this done is scary. We were all shaken up obviously. I stayed home with kids as it was Friday and friends called me and advised me to just stay home as did my company text message. Daycares were open on this side as we are almost 30 miles away although play grounds outdoor areas was closed. Plus I had to goto the plant almost 40 miles away and didnt want to be so far away from the kids. It was eerie with hardly anyone on the roads even in our community.

Then the crime in Delhi. I think people have expressed a lot of grief, anger and honest thoughts and opinions on this. Some of them were very strong well written articles that were so impressive. Hopefully some reforms will be in place so such incidents do not occur. Some other articles on deep rooted cultural norms due to patriarchal society were addressed and I was very impressed. Some of them are pretty true and were nice reads...

After all this really wanted to have a simple weekend and that we did and its back to our usual weekday routine.

Kitchen

Its been a few months since I started my kitchen hunt for the girls. I had to wait until we moved ot the new place. Growing up the girly-girl that I was, I loved pretend play with my kitchen set, I had a plastic kitchen set but it was all utensils only and then graduated to some steel ones and I loved them. Anyway now you get the kitchen itself alongside all the kitchen ware. I saw a KidKraft kitchen at a friend's place and fell in love with it. Her son loved playing with it and she was very open minded and not stuck up that boys should not play with kitchen sets etc. Anyway I finally ordered it and it came and we fixed it. Its this lovely silver kitchen that I almost wish I had growing up. ;) This has been out of stock forever now. And finally I ordered it even though it was a back order but luckily received it within 2-3 weeks since I placed it and I didnt have to wait or look for another one...

Here is a picture of it. It has a fridge, freezer, phone, microwave, 4 burner stove, oven, dishwasher, sink and paper towel roll. Phew! the 3 girls in the house love it :-) I still have to buy them some play pots and pans etc  to get their kitchen function.

AG

Saw some M&Ms in my car trunk that I had hidden and I had to promptly give her (and obviously her sister) a few to avoid tantrums soon as we enter home so I could peacefully cook, she gobbled some and then was extra nice to me.

Its that simple...

Mighty, Mighty Boston!

Its very sad again one of those many incidents you have to swallow and digest even though you cannot comprehed. You will get some reasons and people behind this but it will not be convincing - there isnt one. Its unacceptable and inhuman. Its been very sad to listen to NPR and hear stories of runners and even professional dancers or kids in the crowd  losing their legs... Not sure which is worse to be left handicapped or lose your life....

A friend ran a marathon and they had to stop him midway, while another was very close at work where this happend. And everyone we know is safe. Someone mentioned on the radio they really chose a wrong city which is surrounded by so many good hospitals that saved so many lives. Amid all this its really admirable how well the emergency protocols were followed, by Police, Medical staff, Government.... Truly amazing!

AG was singing this to herself the other day, and marching in the room, stomping her feet, she loves this song ...

Every where that we go, Every where that we go,

People always ask us, People always ask us,

Who we are, Who we are,

So we tell them, so we tell them.

We're from Boston, We're from Boston,

Mighty, Mighty Boston!

F.R.I.E.N.D.S

So we had more company this past weekend. 3 families came over for lunch on Saturday and kids had a blast and got tired. We had some good company and I insisted they stay for dinner, I had cooked a simple lunch for all then for dinner I made daddojanam as we had late lunch and we were kind of full and ordered couple of pizzas just in case. It was nice catching up and weasther was good too. We got tired to at night.

Next day, Sunday had my colleagues over for lunch they insisted we get take out so we did from Udupi, weekends is Buffet so they one of my colleagues picked up lunch for us and we sat home and relaxed, ate, chatted. Then we had our neighbors who stopped by to say hello late in the evening. By then I was done, had fun but was tired as I had a long day both days.

Monday took the day off as daycare was closed being Patriot's day. Did shopping, and A&A got a pretend play kitchen that P installed. In general kids played all day and napped very late, so late that they continued through the night quota of sleep skipping dinner, one of those rare tiring days for them ...

Since we moved in I have been inviting lot of people over and its been very nice catching up, we already had a few groups covered, and we have few more lunches and dinner invites to go but will hold off till next month and space them out.

Phew! Phew! days..

Last 2-3 days have been a bit overwhelming more like evenings have been tiring. AG has contributed a little bit to it by refusing to eat dinner and she wants to only eat Bourbon biscuits, cup cakes and chocolates and then milk and then we should rock her to sleep - yep that's her ideal dream dinner/night - everything else "No Thanks!" - this sweet gene of hers is drowning me LOL, where does she get it from - oh wait its her maternal gene? (and we have staunch chocolate and sweet lovers on both sides of my family) - a certain someone has been addicted to Lindt Milk chocolate with Hazelnuts - so addicted that she hides in the pantry and eats it so AG doesn't see it - yep its her mom . AL is slowly progressing too, she didn't quite like sweet and chocolates as much more like she didn't care and now she is advancing although she still doesn't enjoy that sugary icing (even I don't) but AG clearly likes even the sugary sweet!

　

Anyway the point being that the two-threee hours before their dad gets home - where in I cook for them, feed them, cook for us, pack us lunch for next day and then we sit down to eat dinner between 5pm to 8pm has been crazy past few days. And the main thing impacting the equation being AG not eating. Phew! some days effortlessly are smooth days and some days you put in so much more effort and yet its ends up being crazy busy. And then my caffeine impact. I usually have my tea around 2pm and I happened to take it bit later at work around 3 due to meetings etc and it impacted my sleep a tad bit. So there you go :-)

Guests etc

Was a nice and busy weekend. Both days had guests, kids, did a lot of cooking. BTW which in general I am doing a lot. I missed my kitchen time last few months and I  dived right into it. I never cook as a duty I actually enjoy it and I was blessed with that basic common sense and that cooking gene which helps me make my own recipes. I never needed DH or anyone to help me with any critical analysis.

 

So we caught up with friends after a long time and they were sharing some really bad experiences in recent India trips, their parents / pensioners constantly being humiliated and having treated disrespectfully whether its at the bank or auto driver or nurse at hospital - no compassion no patience no manners or courtesy. I was in tears listening to some of the incidents. Thinking about 70 year olds being spoken to like that by made me feel so bad ...I hope its one off incidents.

Disclaimer: It can happen anywhere just because I dont live in India people may make it seem like I have no right to criticize about somethings in India and take it personal. Its not just about India its about something that really bothers you and does not seem right be it in India or US or Paris or Timbaktu the focus is on the problem. But just cos you are outside India you are forced to say only nice things and not talk or discuss any issues, that's a mindset issue people have. Its just some of those practical issues and experiences one likes to talk about.

Quote

Saw this nice quote:

"Before you start to judge me, step into my shoes and walk the life I am living and if you get as far as I am, just maybe you will see how strong I really am"

This is truly for  all those people who gossip, criticize, unappreciative, disrespectful, talk behind your back, or talk in front of you so you can hear, or to compare you to others, whatever their motive, whatever their age, whatever their sex, they exist every where in every family, society and work place.

Smell the roses!

Having daughters it makes me realize that girls are Dad’s darlings they share this special rapport and relationship with their dads when they are little and yet treat their moms as best friends. How they do it? Only they know. 

Thank God for life's small pleasures and emotions. 

Speak up but be nice!

This morning when dropping off the girls to daycare. We were chatting and I was humming in between our conversations. AL tells me:

"Excuse me Mumma, please do not sing, we dont sing in the car" and continues talking about some color of the front door for one of the houses she saw.

:-)