Wikipedia

Nowadays for me, watching movies or TV has taken a backseat. When I say that, I wish to reiterate that while I still love watching TV or movies and spend ample hours doing so, I keep my phone next to me. If a game is slow or boring, my phone is turned on and I start reading about the players and the same for a movie.

While watching a movie, G and I have actually paused the movie mid stream to check who the actor is or what his background is, etc. Like the other day we were watching 'Milk,' an amazing movie if you have not seen it. I fell instantly head over heels in love with Milk's boyfriend Scott. I had no idea who he was, instant Wiki revealed James Franco to me. Of course, I missed the Oscars this year and I did not see 127 hours...so sorry. But James Franco it is...my latest celeb crush. So what if he turns out to be gay, not like we are going to be an item if we meet...

The other day, same thing, I am watching the MAVS game, simultaneously Wiki'ng about all the players. I now know where Barea is from, what JT's kids names are and whom J Kidd is going to marry. I had Wiki'd Nowitzki so long ago and I did not have to do that again.

So basically, as a movie, show, or game unfolds, I sit in front of the idiot box trying to gain some knowledge about the important players on the screen. I keep pouring in the newly gained knowledge to G and he also sometimes starts on his phone...at least we are still a conversational family :)

Love
ART

Summer is here!!!

We celebrated the Memorial Day long weekend by spending time with G's brother in Houston. Babs gets so excited at the very mention of her uncle's name. He pampers her and she has two little kids to boss around. She surprised us on the drive there by not wanting to pee even once and by keeping to herself the whole drive. She sang songs, talked to herself, taught imaginary friends something or she looked out the window. G and I were so happy that I did not have to look behind and answer a million questions. My little girl is growing up, no more diaper bags, no more extra set of clothes. On some days, we just get out of the house as is. What a change from me having to make a list and plan what I need to take with me and carry a heavy bag everywhere. I still carry snacks because she gets hungry at odd times.

Now that summer has officially started, her school is closed and the temps are touching 100 degs everyday for the past week, Babs is not going to her Montessori any more. She is back to her favorite baby sitter P. P has a daughter T who is a year older than Babs but they grew up together for a year and half and hence have a super strong love-hate relationship. The day starts of brilliant, the kids share, play together, do everything fun and towards the end of the day when tiredness sets in they cannot stand the sight of each other. But the very same night before going to bed, Babs tiredly asks me, "Amma, I will go to play with T again tomm? Please?" P tells me that it is the same story there too,

So in short, G and I feel so much at ease. P gives Babs a bath, has her well fed on Aloo Paratha, sabzee, fruits, and a good dose of Marwari Hindi (any Hindi maybe better than mine). Babs, I feel is much more relaxed. I don't have any tantrums to deal with since she started going to P. The last two months while she was at school, she was developing a temper but now that is gone. I am wondering if school was stressful for her. I am happy to see a relaxed hubby who does not have to get up early to drop daughter off at her Montessori and me because I have spare time since on most days Babs is already fed and taken care of. Thanks P, you are awesome! and Thanks for giving me and G also a much needed summer break.

This past weekend, Babs and I went to Nasher once again. We had super fun. She did the scavenger hunt, the balloon room, art activity, yoga, hung out in the garden admiring sculptures and imitating them before finishing it off with the dance performance some kids put up. It was awesome, as hot as it was, we got to do something outdoorsy, thanks to the beautifully shaded garden, something educational, and something fun. I plan to take her at least once more before the end of the year. Hopefully she will go to the art museums with me because her father hates it.

And finally, saw Rafa beat Fed in the finals of French Open. Phew! Thanks...after seeing Rafa get beaten by Djoker so many times in the ATP 1000 series it was a pleasant surprise to see Fed in the final and Rafa playing his best. I really hope to see them face off in Wimbledon finals. Lets see how things go.

Now if only Mavs won the Championship....sigh...

Love
ART

Screwing, did you say?

Long long ago, nobody knows how long ago, G and babs were sitting in the living room. Some random pounding like noise comes from the floor above and Babs questions G about it. G promptly replies, "Maybe the aunty living upstairs is nailing or screwing some photos to the wall."

Back to today, G and Babs sitting in the living room and me, amma, is away at work on a weekend. Similar noise comes from above and Babs promptly tells G, "Maybe the aunty living above is screwing someone."

G's jaw dropped. He lost his composure. It took him a few seconds and a history lesson from Babs to remind him of what he had told her before. G has not stopped laughing since.

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Babs playing in the park with me. A little boy randomly came and said hello to us. When both of us responded to his greeting he ran away. He did the same thing for a couple of more times. Babs climbing the rock climber turns around, shakes her head in a slightly disappointed way and comments, "That anna is so random," and continues climbing.

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Here is one that is not-so-cute...

G and I are watching NBA Western finals Game #3, Mavs vs Thunder and are really not stressed because we had a 20 point lead but still acting out a bit. Babs is sitting on her fathers tummy and when G and I throw our hands up in the air to create drama she shouts, "Che theri, Bad game. These guys cannot play." Nods her head and walks to her room.

G and I stare at her and wonder what else has she picked up from us? Especially me who is famous for saying 'shit' every other minute, 'damn' is used in every other sentence, 'teri maa ki aankh' when I am driving (at the very least)...scary. As long as she repeats those minimally in public I guess I am ok. After all she will use them when time comes, only prayer is that the time comes a little later.

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Babs you said this and blushed, no denying it...

Babs tells me and G, "I like that Donovan in my class. He is very nice," *blush blush* giggles a bit and continues, "He tries to become like papa to me all the time. He is so funny right?" more blushing and giggling.

I could not hold in my laughter and I laughed with her while G glared at both of us and shook is head in resignation.

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Well that is Babs for you...always up to something and keeping us busy and engaged. And in other related news, Babs had her first Ballet/Tap recital this past Friday (5/21). I took her for the dress rehearsal in the morning and I texted G telling him not to keep his expectations high. Babs stood on the stage, looked around, picked on her nose, relaxed and came back out. I confirmed that her dancing genes were from her father's side of the family. G protested but I prevailed.

Come evening, I made her up with minimal make up. A Little bit of powder, some light eye liner, a dab of rouge and some gloss. Then I tied her hair back in a short pony, gelled it to take the fizz out and added some hair glitter. She was so excited to get dressed up. It was so precious. Dressed in her yellow satin ballet outfit with tutu she made our hearts melt. She was so excited to go there and get up on stage.

And thankfully, she danced. She did not stand looking around. As soon as she got on the stage she took a few minutes to spot me and G and after a quick wave, she was dancing, not perfectly, but at least she was not standing or crying.

After the ballet, they did tap dancing in really cute pink and silver outfits with silver newspaper boy hats. And then the grand finale. They were in their tights and pink leotard, sailor hats and a scarf around their necks. Cute and smart.

G and I took Babs to a desi place, had coffee, pakoda, soup for her, and chicken samosa before heading home. She was excited and I was ready to sleep. This was my first weekend at home, not working, not travelling, not having anyone at home in almost 2 months. I wanted a break.

So anyways. That was that.

Write back soon.

ART

Aunty!

As always the year trip to my parents was once again planned. It took a lot of phone calls and stress before I booked the tickets for me and Babs. The reason for the tension was that we were trying to do a lot of things in a small amount of time but neither of us (my brother and his family and my parents and yours truly) wanted to compromise anything...so off we went, Babs and I on an airplane again to Chattanooga.

Mom dad and my niece Z were waiting to pick us up. The minute Babs set her eye on her cousin I was lost to her. She did not listen to me, think about me or need me. Normally I would hate to be ignored by her or her father but on this occasion, I was ready for it. After all, isn't one of the reasons we go to our parent's house? And I literally started to relax the minute I saw my brother No.2's smiling face walk towards me.

It was crazy after that. Babs rarely ate a full meal, she was busy playing with her cousins. Z wanted to spend time with her and A wanted to run away from her. So Babs decided to ignore Z and chase A to madness. He almost had to hide from her. Babs would stop and give him random hugs and kisses and chase him around claiming her love for him.

The day we landed, we chilled out and the next day we set off to Atlanta. We went to the aquarium and also to the Coca Cola museum and were drunk on coke. My favorite was the mango-kiwi one. Then we met one of our childhood friends had a relaxing evening before driving back home. Day three we did local stuff and shopping gifts for each other. Day 4 was the big day and drive so we decided to tone it down a bit.

Day-4 all of us were ready in our cars driving up the mountains to the Great Smoky Mountains at Gatlinburg-Pigeon Forge area. Brother had booked an awesome cabin up in the mountains, no technology other than TV was there and tall pine tress all around us and warnings posted for Bear awareness everywhere. It was amazing. We learnt what absolute silence meant, the beauty of nature and we were also sure when we were done with it. We did some kiddie things there and then some adult thing of driving around into the woods. Sat down by the river and relaxed a bit while keeping a watch for Smoky the bear.

Day 6 we headed down the mountains towards to coast to North Carolina to meet Brother No.1 and his family. We ate a lot, played a lot of tennis, the kids now doubled and along with that their fights and fun too did. All of us stretched our legs and chilled. The four women also made time to go and get a manicure while the kids played with their dad's and uncles.

And as all good things come to an end Day 8, I was back on an airplane heading home. On our way to the airport in small town Fayetteville, NC, we saw tornado devastated villages all brought to ground by nature. It was quite surreal, so shocking that in one week I saw the beauty of nature as well as its power. And as I sat in the airport waiting, I once more teared up...

ART

PS: So you wonder why this post is called aunty? Well my mom has a very good friend in Chattanooga. I keep associating this friend to be my "mother's" friend and everytime I see her I never miss a chance to call her aunty by pure accident and then regret it the minute the word escapes my mouth. I feel so horrible about it each time but I am not able to stop myself. This lady is probably 5-6 years older than me. I am a horrible person! :(

Lets do some Maths

We were at Austin this past weekend celebrating the birthday of our friend's son. On our drive back home I had to keep a wide awake and active Babs busy. We sang songs together, we ate snacks, we spoke about random things, admired the highway sights and ranches, horses and cows, and we were done with all that in the first hour of the drive. We had two more to kill. So I decided that I will do mental sums with her.

I held out five fingers and told her that if mother gave her four mangoes and she ate two then how many would she have. I kept illustrating for her with my fingers to understand the question from my front seat. After playing a few combinations with her she vehemently insisted that she would ask a question. So she asks:

"If I gave you three bananas and papa two bananas, how many apples will I have?"

G and I were in splits. It woke us up from the stupor the highway driving puts you in. After more playing she once again claimed her right to a question and asked us:

"If I gave you four bananas, how many would you eat?"

Seriously, I told G that she was a pakka Konkani. All my Konkani friends always talk about food when they meet, even my Konkan family. And Babs was focusing on eating. Ah well! At least she was patient enough to sit through the three hours and keep us entertained till we reached home exhausted from partying the previous night.

Love
ART