Before I left for India I was dreading the trip. I was going to be away for 30 days, never done that before. I was going to be taking my 4 year old to India, for the first time. I was not sure what to expect of what to do. I bugged all my friends with my fears and now I know that I was definitely over reacting. India is my homeland, the place where I have my most fondest memories from. How did I even think that something could go wrong there? I am not back, a lot wiser, happier, and of course heavier.
My mother-in-law (here on referred to as Mom), took care of all my tummy needs. Father-in-law (Pop) took care of my extra-tummy needs like sweets and other random desserts. They also took care of my daughter while I was swamped in luxury getting my hair done or hands waxed. They were happy to be with their grand daughter while I for the first time in years had some time off for myself.
My daughter on the other hand was off making friends and playing with them at the park every evening. She mentioned it to me the other day about how fun it was that she just had to get down from our flat to meet her friends and no planning or driving was required for her to have fun.
We visited so many place in Mumbai during my 3 week stint that I now know my way around Mumbai. First we did the touristy things to show Babs around. We went to Juhu beach, bandstand, Chowpathy, and made sure that she did not venture into the water. We took her to Elco Market and made her have their famous Paani Puri's. We shopped around a bit with her first and then without her. We took her to Siddhi Vinayak's and a whirlwind trip around Versova with friends. She had a blast.
Then without her, G took me to a late night drive to Worli Sea Link alone first, and then with his cousins. We hired a cab at 1.00am and told him to show us around Mumbai. First we thought we will do a drive to Sea Link and back but once when we got there, we decided to drive ahead. We went to South Mumbai, and from there to Zaffran, a restaurant, took the cabbie with us and had an awesome post-dinner dinner. Then we drove to Gateway of India before heading back on Sea Link again. This time we forced him to stop in the middle of Sea Link to pose for photos. The driver was scared but we prevailed. And by the time he dropped us back home it was 5 in the morning. We saw the bed and we crashed!
Then there was Holi. So much fun with kids in the neighborhood. G and I took to attacking bigger kids with our pichkari's just to annoy them. At first the big kids did not want to retaliate but after a while they had had enough and the war began. Babs was completely colorfully drenched. And to end all this, there was a feast waiting for us! How nice!
Oh!And did I mention our trip to Goa? We got to stay in what I feel is the best hotel ever. Will write about it in a separate post. The beach we chose was Ashvem beach for a whole day of relaxing. The kids had a blast, surfboarding, playing in the water, swimming, building castles. Then we did the Aguada fort and Church of St. Francis Xavier. The best part of it was the meeting of three friends. G, and his best buddies with their families. All of us had such a blast.
Then we did a stop over in Pune and a day in Bengaluru. At the end of which Babs was running a constant temp and when we went to Chennai we were confined to my friend S's house for a day and half waiting for Babs to recover. When she showed very less chance of recovering, we just drugged her and started going out. And she for her part was not behaving sick while Tylenol kept her happy. After a doc visit and some anti-B's Babs was back in action and Chennai was fun.
My knee that had bothered me a lot was awesome the first 3 weeks and then it acted up on me again. But in spite of it, I was out all days of the week doing something or the other. G and I had only 3 inactive days totally in 30 days! We always seemed to have a plan for the next day. More Desh posts to follow till I get over my India fever (never!). Till then...
Love
ART
My mother-in-law (here on referred to as Mom), took care of all my tummy needs. Father-in-law (Pop) took care of my extra-tummy needs like sweets and other random desserts. They also took care of my daughter while I was swamped in luxury getting my hair done or hands waxed. They were happy to be with their grand daughter while I for the first time in years had some time off for myself.
My daughter on the other hand was off making friends and playing with them at the park every evening. She mentioned it to me the other day about how fun it was that she just had to get down from our flat to meet her friends and no planning or driving was required for her to have fun.
We visited so many place in Mumbai during my 3 week stint that I now know my way around Mumbai. First we did the touristy things to show Babs around. We went to Juhu beach, bandstand, Chowpathy, and made sure that she did not venture into the water. We took her to Elco Market and made her have their famous Paani Puri's. We shopped around a bit with her first and then without her. We took her to Siddhi Vinayak's and a whirlwind trip around Versova with friends. She had a blast.
Then without her, G took me to a late night drive to Worli Sea Link alone first, and then with his cousins. We hired a cab at 1.00am and told him to show us around Mumbai. First we thought we will do a drive to Sea Link and back but once when we got there, we decided to drive ahead. We went to South Mumbai, and from there to Zaffran, a restaurant, took the cabbie with us and had an awesome post-dinner dinner. Then we drove to Gateway of India before heading back on Sea Link again. This time we forced him to stop in the middle of Sea Link to pose for photos. The driver was scared but we prevailed. And by the time he dropped us back home it was 5 in the morning. We saw the bed and we crashed!
Then there was Holi. So much fun with kids in the neighborhood. G and I took to attacking bigger kids with our pichkari's just to annoy them. At first the big kids did not want to retaliate but after a while they had had enough and the war began. Babs was completely colorfully drenched. And to end all this, there was a feast waiting for us! How nice!
Oh!And did I mention our trip to Goa? We got to stay in what I feel is the best hotel ever. Will write about it in a separate post. The beach we chose was Ashvem beach for a whole day of relaxing. The kids had a blast, surfboarding, playing in the water, swimming, building castles. Then we did the Aguada fort and Church of St. Francis Xavier. The best part of it was the meeting of three friends. G, and his best buddies with their families. All of us had such a blast.
Then we did a stop over in Pune and a day in Bengaluru. At the end of which Babs was running a constant temp and when we went to Chennai we were confined to my friend S's house for a day and half waiting for Babs to recover. When she showed very less chance of recovering, we just drugged her and started going out. And she for her part was not behaving sick while Tylenol kept her happy. After a doc visit and some anti-B's Babs was back in action and Chennai was fun.
My knee that had bothered me a lot was awesome the first 3 weeks and then it acted up on me again. But in spite of it, I was out all days of the week doing something or the other. G and I had only 3 inactive days totally in 30 days! We always seemed to have a plan for the next day. More Desh posts to follow till I get over my India fever (never!). Till then...
Love
ART
2 comments:
i am tempted to say it..so i'll say it 'I told you so' :P
Glad the trip went off well.
hahahaha! Go on...say it again!!
There is something about India...!
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