• Little Po

    Hello, my name is Po and my granny( Nani) calls me Little Po because I am the littlest of her grandchildren. I am actually only 5 weeks younger than my cousin Ms. Papaya and 3 1/2 years younger than my brother Wow Dinga.  But since I am the littlest, she calls me Little Po.

    I live in a house on top of a hill that is between the homes of my two grandmothers . My Dadi lives in a big house at the bottom of the hill and my Nani lives on another hill that is part of the same hill where I live.  This is very important because I spend most of my days between these three houses.

    Morning time

    Most days when I get up, the rest of the house is asleep. But I like it when I see my mother and we get to spend a few minutes nuzzling before she runs after Wow Dinga who has to get ready for school before  I do.

    So it is up to Ash my baby sitter to wipe the sleep from my eyes and give me my breakfast. I actually don’t like milk so I don’t drink any. I don’t even like eggs so I normally just eat some toast and a slice of cheese.

    This gives me enough energy to start playing the latest games that my brother has devised. These days we play Avengers but a few months ago it was dinosaurs. Most days, however, I like doing puzzle or playing with my cars.

    Somehow or the other Ash manages to change my clothes and I am off to my Playgroup which is on the same hill. Some days my father drops me to school, some days my mother drops me to school and some days Ash drops me to school. But I manage to get to school by 9 am.

    In School

    We start the day in school with some activities that are meant to “develop fine motor skills” This actually means that we string beads, sort out toys or do some activity that makes us use our little fingers.

    Then we do some painting work like stamping with sponge, rolling straws dipped in colour or other fun things. Teacher says this is to help us identify shapes and colours and  ” develop our cognitive skills”. We also have to listen to stories.

    The best part of the day is singing songs like my favourite “Wheels of the Bus”. I also like to sing this song whenever I am in the car with my family. Another favourite song is “Macchli Jal ki Rani Hai”.

    In between all this activity we have a break for a snack. Some days the school gives us a snack but on some days I take something from home. I love the spicy Khakra and Chakli that Ash fills in my box.

    After school

    Ash comes to fetch me from school and I go down the hill to my grandma’s house where I have lunch with her and my grandpa and my brother and father. Most days we eat fish. On the days my mother is home, she comes to fetch me from school and we go to my own house where I eat lunch with my brother and my father as well.

    At around 1 o’lock I am quite tired so Ash puts me down for a two hour nap.

    When I get up around tea time, I am quite fresh to join my brother in the garden where we go down to play till sunset. I generally play on the swing and see saw but love whizzing around on my car that I inherited from Wow Dinga.

    We come up just before sunset and are allowed to play in the bathroom while Ash and my mother give us a quick scrub down before dinner.

    I am quite tired by then because this is a lot of hard work for a two year old boy. And I am ready to snuggle up to my mother while she reads both of us a bed time story.

     

    A Day in the LIfe of Po

    [bctt tweet=”That’s quite a lot of stuff to do for a 2 year old isn’t it” username=”via unishta”]


    Image for #WTFOW 6

    ‘I am taking part in The Write Tribe Festival of Words #6 and this is my response to the prompt on

    Day 4 (8 Aug/Tue) – Feature a day in your life or someone else’s life

    Image for BellyBytes

  • Image for #WTFOW 6

    ‘I am taking part in The Write Tribe Festival of Words #6‘ and today’s prompt  on Day 3 (7 Aug/Mon) – Feature a map and write about a place either real or virtual

    brought back a host memories of a trip to Warsaw, Poland.

    My fascination with maps and map reading began with Mrs. Karat in Class 8 who insisted we keep our pens down while she explained the fineties of heights, longitudes and latitudes and made us map out our own contour maps at the end of the lesson. While she charted our world in different kinds of maps – heat maps, political maps, physical maps and the like, I’ve loved deciphering maps . I also developed a passion for discovering cities through maps.

     

    A street map of Central Warsaw.

    My first ever exploration of a city with just a street map and my wits remains my most pleasant memory of a trip abroad.

    Image for Map of Warsaw's Old Town

    I had tagged along with Hubby Dear who was visiting Warsaw on business. This was soon after the fall of communism and Eastern Europe was an exotic mystery yet to be explored. We were staying at Warsaw’s best hotel – the Victoria, a rather plain and stern looking building typical of the grey socialist era it was built in.  But across from my bedroom, the first thing that fascinated me was the changing of the guard that took place hourly at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.


    This photo of Tomb of the Unknown Soldier (Grob Nieznanego Zolnierza) is courtesy of TripAdvisor

    Since it was my first trip as an accompanying spouse, Hubby Dear was reluctant to send me off on my own so he organised a day trip. But my tour guide who was a professional bee keeper (moonlighting as a tour guide on the side) was more interested in finding about my exotic country and after a quick, whistle top tour left me with a deeper desire to explore more. So the next day, after Hubby Dear left for work, I went down to the concierge and asked for a map of the general layout.

    I stepped out of the hotel, usure of what to expect. Poland was a grey, dark mystery with a fascinating historic past.

    Image for Old Town Warsaw

    I can still remember that shock of wonderment when I cam upon a walled city of the Old Town that reminded me of the Grimm’s stories that I was brought up on I bought 3 water colours by one of the many artists in the square that still remind me of that wonderful trip.[bctt tweet=” I subsequently realised that this is a typical part of several European cities that preserve their culture in a toy town perfection. ” username=”via unishta”]

    During one of my many forays into the side streets I came upon the   home of Marie Curie which is now converted Museum honoring this woman of science whose discoveries changed the whole world!

    Image for Marie Curie's Museum

    (As an aside which I discovered while researching for photos for this post, I found out that Nov 17, 2017 marks the 150th anniversary of this path breaking scientist.)

    Polish hearts

    Apart from the Palace Square dominated by  Zygmunt’s Column  was the fascinating  Basilica of St. John which was pulverised during  World War 2. Now completely rebuilt, it has a part of a tank track embedded in its brick work to remind everyone of those dark days. And in a lower level crypt you will find the interred remains of a great Polish statesman, musician and composer  Ignace Paderwski that finally found a resting place 53 years after his death in exile.

    Image for concert in Lazienski Park

    Another great Pole whose heart remained in Poland was the famous musician Frederic Chopin who lived in France for most of his life. Yet come summer time and his music fills the air of Lazienski Park especially in the summer where fans come to the romantic strains of Chopin and   the fleeting sunshine.

    Image for BellyBytes

    AS you can see there are lots of interesting touristy things to do around including a visit to the old fashioned , old style, elegant Wedel which makes the most amazing biscuit cakes that I can vouch for. So what are you waiting for? Just  book a ticket on the next flight to Warsaw?

     

     

  • Image for Ask Me

    Ask Me

    All my life I've had people ask me the strangest questions."Where can I get the bus to take me to Tardeo?" ( from a friend whose servant needs to visit the GP)

    "How cold will it be in Sikkim in January?" (from another friend who is planning her daughter's destination wedding)

    "What is the difference between Sashimi and a California Roll?" (from someone who is taking you to a Japanese restaurant for your's and his first time)

    "What is the biblical quotation written on the walls of the UN building in NY?" ( I kid you not, Hubby Dear asked me this question from his Boss  in Amsterdam. And Boss wanted the answer for his daughter's history project!!!!!)

    "What was the price of petrol in 1971?" ( from an Uncle who wants to compare inflation then and now)

    "When is Madhu Kaku's birthday?" ( from my hubby who wants to wish his aunt on her 90th birthday)

    "How do you spell compliments? With an 'e' or an 'i'?" ( from the hubby's secretary who wants to inscribe a corporate gift)

    "Do you remember who was our college principal ? " ( this particular question is my mother-in-law's pet question simply because we attended the same college 20 years apart!)

    And the topics are as random as the questions. Before you get me wrong – I am not a genius. I just have a very good memory and even better recall. Besides, my innate curiosity  makes me  read every single written word that comes my way, right from medical prescriptions, ingredients listed on packages, the fine print on travel documents and even a slip of paper that is blown onto my lap while waiting at the bus stop. I also have desire to know why things happen.

    Now random facts are good to know if you want to win General Knowledge competitions but since I didn't come even close to applying to " Kaun Banega Cororepati" or its counterparts, I find that stuffing my head

    Now these are random questions that I am asked to answer on a daily basis. Sometimes I am even asked half asleep " Do you know the name of the tablet that Altaf recommended for jet lag?"

    Becoming Google-eyed

    Long before Google was conceived I depended on the school library. This was my greatest resource. I also depended on geographic atlases, daily newspapers, letters from penpals, magazine subscriptions and word of mouth.

    Well this was in the days before GOOGLE which has become the God of All Knowlege. In fact Richard L. Brandt his book " The Google Guys " compares Larry Page and Sergei Brin to the  librarians of ancient Alexandria who wanted to be their library to be the largest repository of knowledge in the world.

    However , Google is only as good as the resource you rely on for your information. Knowing where to look is as important .

    Where to go?

    The best resources for choosing a holiday destination are TRIP ADVISOR and TRIVAGO.   Apart from the customer reviews which are quite useful, I also actually compare the recommendations with hotels/sites/restaurants that I am familiar with. To illustrate, if the best hotel (in my estimation) in my city is the Taj Mahal Hotel, then I compare the hotels recommended by Trip Advisor or Trivago with that.

    [bctt tweet="After all, one man's meat is another man's poison." username="via unishta"] So what will do for me will not do for someone else. Besides there are other things to be taken into consideration apart from finances like personal preferences and  cultural expectations.

    Food expectations

    Image for food glorious food

    As a diehard foodie, lots of people ask me food related questions. I also love exploring new cuisines and find that Recipe.com , Epicurious and foodnetwork are almost always the best resources. Daughter No2. who is a more discerning food recommends The Smitten Kitchen which I also use when I want to cook to impress.

    And when it comes to  scouting new restaurants I always make a quick search on  Zomato and Zagat

    Human Resources

    But while all these resources just serve to make us Google-eyed, I cannot fail to rely on my other great sources of information :

    • My father whose memories of past family history, interpretation of historical events and funny stories that crack me up.
    • My mother whose recipes are almost always the cornerstone of our daily conversations
    • Daughter No.1 and Anna Shetty who keep me abreast with all the latest happenings in the corporate world and medicine.
    • My friends who keep me abreast with spirituality, philosophy, yoga, diets and the latest fashions
    • L from the club who tells me all the ins and outs of society gossip
    • My servants who tell me what's happening in the building and who is doing what with whom
    • My different whatsapp groups that send me inane jokes, annoying information, fake news and more.

     

    Image for #WTFOW 6

     

     I am taking part in The Write Tribe Festival of Words #6

    Day 2 (6 Aug/Sun) – Share about a resource/s you have or use

    Image for BellyBytes

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

Design a site like this with WordPress.com
Get started