Last we moved home was from Chennai to Bangalore in March 2010We were not sure of the city, our tenure here and now after almost three years, it is time to move again.Within Bangalore. To our own home.Aditi is older now and sort of understands that we are packing things up.So every now and then she states an object of liking, XYZ and states" Pl take my XYZ to SC..." She is adept at snipping sticky tape when we pack cartonsAnush helped a lot with the books - sorting and classifying them and

Last weekend, we were at a friend's place for lunch. The food was yummy. Within a few seconds of starting to dig into his plate, Ads piped up "Aunty, your paneer is awesome." Shortly thereafter - "Aunty, the food is really good. And your house looks like a restaurant." He meant - it was pretty and the table was nicely set :)Needless to stay, 'Aunty' was floored! I was quietly proud that he had remembered to compliment the hostess on her beautifully-kept house and great food. What I should have m

Anushka is into reading chapter books in a big way and right now her favourite is the timeless staple- Enid Blyton.She was helping me sort the picture books for our move and paused every now and then to read old favourites.She was so moved by Tulika's Beboo Bear that I found her sobbing when I got back to the room. I felt really bad for assuming that she is old enough to read all picture books herself. While reading them is easy, the content of some books can be pretty d

I simply had to share this because never ever in my life have I got such glowing compliments on ...of all things.....my cooking!Oh well, my kids praise my baking every now and then and my alfredo sauce or basil pasta is always a favourite with them, but they are my kids and I have to discount whatever they may say.Yesterday was pasta for lunch, for all the three of us. I was in a rush in the morning so I did what I thought was a very haphazard job, throwing spices and tomatoes and milk

The November session on chameleons went off well. To enliven the stories, I engaged in a memory game around the animals on the double spread, a Chameleon hunt and also introduced a story reading by the older kids as well. Went off better than expected. Was amazed at the vocabulary of some of the kids.A couple of kids recalled Gajapati Kulapati from the previous session and wanted me to narrate it again! Felt good.Shruti ( Artsy Craftsy fame) did an innovative salt watercolour

Some milestones and inflexion points attained over the last couple of months. Some minor, some major, some that still need work!1. Ads' slight OCD behaviour continues! I'm not complaining since he's been channeling it in ways that are largely in my favour. For example, he gets back from school and will not have his milk unless he has cleared away his lunch box, put away his shoes, thrown his uniform into the laundry basket and compulsively tidied up the shoes/sandals that are lyin

Y has been attending a baby ballet class in Gurgaon for the last four or five months. I enrolled her for a lark, because she loves dancing and because I thought performing on stage would make her more confident and less of a shrinking violet. She’s been bunking half the classes this semester thanks to our crazy travelling and weekend breaks, which, given how expensive ballet classes are, has made me feel very guilty indeed! Barring the first couple of classes, I did not get to see what she ha

My November  session at Ananda Vidyalaya is on Chameleons and other crawlies.The super talented Artsy Craftsy will be conducting the craft session post this.Be there if you can. See the joy on the kids faces when you interact with them. It will leave you smiling for long.Do any of you have this book or read it? How is it?Pratham Books have evinced interest to donate books to AV . My friend S has also passed on some really good ones. THANKS!!Hope more such people out there will sen

At Atta Galatta I had a fun session with a good crowd of kids and parents. Used a mix of props and styles including Rajasthani puppets and song, dance and mime.Did twists and versions of familiar tales- Lion and the Mouse, The Talkative Tortoise, a groom for Roopmati, Gajapati Kulapati and The not so hungry caterpillar.Completely enjoyed myself. Hope this will be  a new beginning - in terms of story telling that is commercially rewarding as well!!**********We attended ACT's  ( Ashwini

Had a wonderful time at this inspiring place.I love how kids from all strata mingle at this library whose collection of books is now over 7000 with generous donations from volunteers in India and overseas.A playschool teacher- volunteer helped me along with the session since Oriya was what a few of the kids understood, not Hindi or English.