I couldn't let the day go by...

...without wishing Harry Potter and his creator, Joanne Kathleen Rowling, a very Happy Birthday.

When I think of the books, the movies, websites, games and other books that they have spawned, I am reminded of a couplet in Urdu:

Main akela hi chala tha janib-e-manzil magar 
Humsafar milte gaye aur kafila banta gaya
I had started alone on this journey
But people joined and it became a multitude

The best way to celebrate here at my blog would be to share with you a book that throws light on the literary influences on Rowling's iconic work.

Pic courtesy flipkart

Harry Potter's Bookshelf
The great books behind the Hogwarts adventures
Written by John Granger
Published by Berkley Publishing Group, Penguin.

As John Granger (no relation to Hermione Granger) says in his disclaimer, "This book is not authorized, prepared, approved, licensed, or endorsed by JK Rowling, Warner Bros., or any other individual or entity associated with the Harry Potter books or movies."

It is, however, an interesting treatise about the possible literary influences that clearly had their effect on Rowling's work. From classic mythology and folklore to Shakespeare, from Gothic romances to classics by Jane Austen, Dickens and their contemporaries, from detective fiction by the likes of Dorothy L Sayers, Agatha Christie, etc., to children's writers like Enid Blyton with her school stories and fairy tales, from the Christian scriptures to feminist writing, from war stories to the paranormal, there is all here. The author, John Granger, has gone genre by genre, explaining how the 7 books read in that particular genre, and how there are little things Rowling has taken from there, as well as the big picture.

This is a book to read if you are merely a lover of Harry Potter books, or only a literature buff. Or, preferable and happily, both. One understands the Potter stories from a completely different angle with each chapter, and is amazed at the range and depth of Rowling's knowledge and research.

Do read.

12 years...

...is called a 'Tapa' in Sanskrit literature. My little one, not so little anymore, turned twelve on the 18th this month, and I cannot let the month go by just like that.

So. We're currently big time into cooking. A little different from assisting mamma in the kitchen. Though, of course, it has to be a food item that she likes that she takes charge of. That, and the current interest in the ongoing Masterchef US, meant that the theme for a party was already decided.

Taking the DIY idea forward, I let her take charge of everything except deciding on and planning the actual contest, so that she could participate as a contestant in all fairness. She decided on the return gifts and the prizes, who to call, and the format of the contest. There were 9 girls, including her, so we decided on having 3 teams of 3 each, decided by drawing lots. The winning team from among these would then go on to round two, so that we would have three dishes again. The winner among these would be the masterchef, and there would be one runner-up.

Prizes? The winner would be presented with an apron on which we had hand-painted the masterchef logo in red. As also a copy of The Usborne Little Book of Chocolate. Lots of history and customs about chocolate, fun facts, and easily do-able recipes, and plenty of yum looking pictures.

pic courtesy usborne.co.uk

Runner-up would get a copy of The Deadly Royal Recipe, written by Ranjit Lal, published by Duckbill books.

pic courtesy saffrontree.org

The rest of the participants were to get a copy of Subhadra Sen Gupta's book, The Secret Diary of the World's Worst Cook. Wonderful book- historical fiction on the background of the Mughal period.

pic courtesy penguinbooksindia.com

Now, I am not sure about the comfort levels of the invitees' parents while working with knives, fire, etc. So I decided to keep it fairly simple, with an adult assisting.

Round 1: The best and yummiest class of food that could be prepared with a bit of planning were the chaats. I made the imli chutney and the green chutney at home. Got the veggies chopped up in the morning - onions, tomatoes, boiled potatoes, fresh coriander. Bought a few packets of murmura(puffed rice), sev, farsan, paani-puri puris, khara puris, etc., and was all set. I also kept a few bottles of unrelated stuff like ketchup, mustard, mayonnaise, chilli garlic sauce, etc. Of course, if they incorporated any of that in their recipe without messing it up, they could!

The judge was a neighbour, a friend who is a wonderful cook herself, and who is also wonderful with kids. Having a grandchild a little younger than A, she knows how they tick.

So there were the kids, having donned their aprons.  We told them the rules- about adult supervision, teamwork, and about cleaning up after getting their dish ready. And then the fun really began.

The winning chaat entry - tikki chaat. A's team made this, and went to the second round. The three children in the winning team went on to round two.

Second in the chaat round. Paani puri and sev puri.

Third in the chaat round. Bhel puri.

Round 2: The winning team went on to Round 2. Now they worked individually. The three of them had to put together three desserts from the ingredients given. There were sliced cakes, fruit of different kinds, ice-cream, waffle sticks and chips, sprinkles, jams, honey, dessert toppings, cooking chocolate, and then some.

The winning entry in the second, dessert round. I didn't get to taste this, but was told it was slices of cake topped with fruit, covered by strawberry ice-cream, and garnished with gems and chocolate sprinkles. Pic taken after all entries were judged, hence the messy, melted ice-cream.

A's entry for the dessert round. Two servings of banana split. Second place. Oh, and for those interested to know, since she already has a copy of The Deadly Royal Recipe by Duckbill books, we drew lots to give away the copy bought for the runner-up to one of the guest children!

Third place - Sponge cake slices stacked with layers of peanut butter, covered by chocolate icing, garnished with gems. coloured sprinkles and waffle sticks.

And the birthday cake. Red pumpkin cinnamon bundt cake baked by me, covered with vanilla icing by the kid!

Happy Birthday, my little one!

In which we wish Harry and JKR a Happy Birthday

Before we go on to the topic of our post, let me also tell my readers that today is also the birthday of another literary great, Munshi Premchand a.k.a. Dhanpat Rai,born on 31st July 1880 in a village near Benaras.

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In my mind, there is clearly a before Potter and after Potter.

Rowling is one of those beautiful people who think of humanity beyond the me-and-mine, and for that, she is my hero. Every Potter reader knows the story of how it all happened. Not many know of the rest.

1990: The idea for the Potter books came to Joanne, a single, impoverished mother of a daughter.

1997: Seven years later, the first Potter book was published by Bloomsbury in June 1997. The consecutive books were published in June 1998, July 1999, July 2000, June 2003, July 2005, July 2007. The release of each book saw unprecedented frenzy at book-stores the world over. JK Rowling had truly wrought a miracle: reading had become cool!

2001: Rowling wrote : Quidditch Through The Ages and Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them. Both purport to be curriculum books followed at Hogwarts, and contain interesting back stories about Hogwarts, the game of Quidditch, and detailed references to magical beasts, most of them from actual mythology. Both books are supposedly copies belonging to Harry, with a lot of amusing marginalia by Harry, Ron and Hermione. Worth picking up for a true aficionado.

All proceeds from these books until 2009, and a percentage of all published after that goes to Comic Relief, a UK based charity working for eradicating poverty.

2008: Tales of Beedle The Bard was published. Initially published as a limited edition of 7, six were given away to persons closely associated with the Potter books, and the seventh was auctioned to raise a whopping 1.95 million pounds for LUMOS, a UK based charity founded by Rowling herself, that works towards bettering the lives of disadvantaged and institutionalized children. The book was then published for the public by Bloomsbury in collaboration with LUMOS, and a percentage of the sales goes to the charity.

She has also set up the Volant Charitable Trust, named after her her French great-grandfather Louis Volant a decorated WW1 hero. Quoting from the objectives of this trust:
The Trust has two broad areas of funding:
1. Research into the causes, treatment and possible cures of Multiple Sclerosis.
J K Rowling is supporting major research into neuroregeneration and Multiple Sclerosis at the University of Edinburgh. The Anne Rowling Regenerative Neurology Clinic is being set up in Edinburgh with the substantial donation J K Rowling made in 2010. The Trust is therefore not considering any health care applications, including other medical research, for the foreseeable future.
2. Charities and projects, whether national or community-based, at home or abroad, that alleviate social deprivation, with a particular emphasis on women’s and children’s issues.
At present the Trustees consider the funding of major disaster appeals and this is the focus of the Trust’s International support; therefore, applications for other projects overseas are not being considered for the foreseeable future.

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Over the years, JK Rowling has been the recipient of a multitude of honours and awards, notable among which are the OBE, 2001, for services to Children's Literature and Hans Christian Andersen Literature Award, 2010, which is given to a writer of enduring and rich children's literature.

Come September 2012, Rowling will be releasing her first book after the Hogwarts books, this one for adults. The Casual Vacancy, published by Little, Brown, promises to be quintessentially British.

Other than all of this, there have been the Harry Potter movies that have spread the magic of the Potter books further. I know of at least six of my daughter's friends who are not big-time into reading, but who have been inspired by the movies (and the constant nudging by A) to pick up the books and read them through. Enjoy them thoroughly too.

The spell of Potter has gone to enchant the online world, too. A and I are members at Pottermore, which gives one an insider's experience of Harry's world. This is a safe site for your children, where one joins, gets a wand, gets sorted into houses, all based on questions one answers about what one would do given a particular situation. One then goes on to discover exclusive and intriguing back stories on the various characters, places, spells, events, etc., that comprise the wizarding world. No personal information is asked, and one is even given a magical username, so that one can be anonymous.

There will be much more that happens around JK Rowling in the future. I leave you here with the Commencement Address given by her to Harvard Graduates of 2008, the full text of which can be read here: The Fringe Benefits of Failure, and The Importance of Imagination.

For those who would rather listen to it directly from JK Rowling, here is the video link..

One is struck by the honesty, humour and humanity of feeling.

"So why do I talk about the benefits of failure? Simply because failure meant a stripping away of the inessential. I stopped pretending to myself that I was anything other than what I was, and began to direct all my energy into finishing the only work that mattered to me. Had I really succeeded at anything else, I might never have found the determination to succeed in the one arena I believed I truly belonged. I was set free, because my greatest fear had been realised, and I was still alive, and I still had a daughter whom I adored, and I had an old typewriter and a big idea. And so rock bottom became the solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life."

Think not just of the books she has created and the charities she has given so generously for. Think of the worldwide phenomenon that has created so many jobs, fed so many mouths, and interested people again in the art of reading. She is truly a hero.


Have a very Happy Birthday, Joanne Kathleen Rowling! And a very Happy Birthday to Harry, too, the Boy Who Lived!

Happy Birthday, A !

She'll be 11 today.

When I see her, I remember the first time I saw her. Just a small speck going 'twinkle-twinkle' on the ultrasound screen, and I fell in love with her. At that point, I did not even know if it was a she or a he. All I knew, was that she was my miracle, one that had come to me after whole 7 years of marriage. I was overjoyed, yet worried. It was a tough world that I was going to get her into. I almost lost her along the way, and it was again a miracle when I had her in my arms, whole and healthy, after an excruciating 9 months.

She is today 11, emerging slowly onto the cusp of womanhood. My daughter, I am dedicating this poem by Sarah McMane, (one that I read at this post by Peggy Orenstein) to you today. My wish for you.


For My Daughter

Never play the princess when you can
be the queen:
rule the kingdom, swing a scepter,
wear a crown of gold.
Don’t dance in glass slippers,
crystal carving up your toes—
be a barefoot Amazon instead,
for those shoes will surely shatter on your feet.


Never wear only pink
when you can strut in crimson red,
sweat in heather grey, and
shimmer in sky blue,
claim the golden sun upon your hair.
Colors are for everyone,
boys and girls, men and women—
be a verdant garden, the landscape of Versailles,
not a pale primrose blindly pushed aside.


Chase green dragons and one-eyed zombies,
fierce and fiery toothy monsters,
not merely lazy butterflies,
sweet and slow on summer days.
For you can tame the most brutish beasts
with your wily wits and charm,
and lizard scales feel just as smooth
as gossamer insect wings.


Tramp muddy through the house in
a purple tutu and cowboy boots.
Have a tea party in your overalls.
Build a fort of birch branches,
a zoo of Legos, a rocketship of
Queen Anne chairs and coverlets,
first stop on the moon.


Dream of dinosaurs and baby dolls,
bold brontosaurus and bookish Belle,
not Barbie on the runway or
Disney damsels in distress—
you are much too strong to play
the simpering waif.


Don a baseball cap, dance with Daddy,
paint your toenails, climb a cottonwood.
Learn to speak with both your mind and heart.
For the ground beneath will hold you, dear—
know that you are free.
And never grow a wishbone, daughter,
where your backbone ought to be.

Life is tough, my lovely A, yet it can be so beautiful. My hope and wish for you is to find your own happiness, in your own special way.

Happy Birthday!


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My thanks to Ms McMane for graciously permitting me to reproduce her poem here.

Our Great Mumbai Holiday plus

So the kid is off to school, and as Starry so succintly puts it: the chains are off! First time in 2 months that I have managed to sit down in front of my laptop without someone wanting my attention.

So what did we do in the holidays? Quite a list.

Attended a super Carpentry workshop at Hippocampus, our library, run by a dear friend. We have a working model of a sun-dial, and a toy aeroplane to show for it. Thoroughly enjoyed by A.

Went to Mumbai after a very long 2 years, visiting parents and in-laws.

Sisters-in-law (2 of them) and I carted the kids (4 boys aged 12-17 years and A) over to the over 200 year old Shree Siddhivinayak temple  in Prabhadevi, which is believed to grant wishes to devotees. It is a favoured place to visit for those who revere Ganesha/ Ganapati- the elephant headed god of learning, who is also believed to remove obstacles from one's life, and is invoked as 'Shree' before undertaking anything of importance.

Also visited the Mahalakshmi temple in Worli, which is built right next to the sea, with the waves breaking on its walls at high tide. The sea fascinated A more than anything else, as the last time we saw the sea was the North sea off Scotland when she was just 3, and she doesn't have any memory of it.

Went shopping with the entire gang (ladies and kids only) to Crawford Market built by the British in 1869 after travelling by the mumbai local trains. A was horrified by the crowd, the rush, and the chaos of both, but enjoyed the outing with her cousins.

Also checked out the extremely high end and absolutely unaffordable Palladium mall and the adjacent High Street Phoenix mall at the place where the famed Phoenix mills- cotton mills- were situated. The only place there that we could even think of buying something was the absolutely enormous Landmark, which had such a wide range of books that I could not do justice in terms of browsing. Picked up a few titles there- but of course. It was literally like getting into Alladin's cave for both A and I, and I plan to make a visit to just that one store on a later visit to Mumbai.

Made a family trip to the absolutely wonderful Tikuji-ni-wadi with brother and his family- A now had two cousins, my nephew aged 11 and niece aged 5 with her. It is very near the city, a few kilometers from my parents' house, but it is like stepping into another time zone. Of course there are the rides and the water parks that were fun for the kids, but the part I enjoyed most were that there was a sprawling chickoo orchard, with village style cots scattered around on which we could relax after a morning of activity and just chill. Which the sister-in-law and I did, as the brother took the kids off for rides. The food is very ordinary, though, just routine noodles-pizza-sandwich-chelpuri-other chaats stuff, not very inspiring. I was hoping for a homestyle gujju spread, and was much disappointed.

Immersed myself in many things marathi-

Typical food cooked by my mother- pithla bhakri, ambadichi bhaji, puraN poLi, kadhigoLe, waTli daL, waraNphaL, shrikand (home made) puri, and most of all, alphonso mango in many avataars. I even picked up aambawadi (a burfi like preparation from mango pulp), aambapoLi (alphonso pulp put out on plates and sundried), phaNaspoLi (made from jackfruit pulp), aambyacha satha (just a lump of dehydrated alphonso pulp).

I also picked up the all important Goda Masaala which is an important and indispensible ingredient of maharashtrian cuisine, and which is unfortunately not available anywhere. At least I have never found it. It is a difficult masaala to make at home, as it has many ingredients and is quite labour intensive. Something I have been too lazy to make at home, as my mother and grandmother always did.

pic courtesy lokvani.com

Took A to many Marathi theatre performances for children. The most notable of which was Durga Zali Gauri, a dance drama, which moves forward only in song and dance. A loved it, and we heard nothing but those songs for a few days. It is comparable to Agatha Christie's play "Mousetrap", in that it has been running to a full house for the last 29 years, and its popularity shows no sign of abating. Unfortunately, it has still not been released on DVD, but I picked up an audio CD at the time of the performance. Something I would recommend to any theatre lover visiting Mumbai during the summer vacations. Performances are only then, as the children acting in it are free at the time. I spoke to Arun Kakade, the person behind it all, about having shows in Bangalore. He was interested, and told me that he had spoken to some people here about it, but that the logistics of transporting a 50+ troupe of dancers, housing them, almost all children, was daunting. Our loss!

I went for a few Marathi theatre performances too- two of which were written by the noted playwright, Sai Paranjpye, better known outside of Maharashtra for her sensitively made movies like Katha, Chashhme Baddoor and Sparsh. Also saw a few Marathi movies- some on DVD and one in theatres- the newly released Bal Gandharva which is a biographical film based on the life of one of Marathi's greatest and pioneering singers, and actor Narayan Shripad Rajhans, better known by his alter-ego : Bal Gandharva.

On DVD, saw quite a few. Am convinced that regional movies have a lot more to offer on realistic and well made movies- of an extremely high calibre as compared to the staple bollywood fare. I can probably count those bollywood films that impressed me in the last five years on the fingers of my hand. I do not really know much about regional films in other Indian languages, but going by those that are aired on LokSabha channel, there are quite a few world-class movies being made. When will bollywood wake up and smell the celluloid?

Anyway, the ones I saw this time-

Rita, based on the book of the same name by renowned marathi writer Shanta Gokhale- it is the story of Rita Welingkar, the eldest of three daughters, who starts working at an early age when her no-good father loses his job, and pretty much becomes the parent for her sisters, inspite of having both her parents alive. On the way she gets into a relationship with her much older and much-married-with-kids boss. The movie captures very well Rita's struggle to make things more meaningful in her life- wonderfully played by Pallavi Joshi.

Mee Sindhutai Sapkal (I, Sindhutai Sakpal) based on her autobiography named Mee Vanvasi (I, the exiled), is the story of a poor woman born in rural Maharashtra- pulled out of school and married off at age 12 to a man more than twice her age, and her struggle for a life of dignity. She is thrown out by her husband, pregnant, near term, with her third child, on a false charge of infidelity. This is the story of how she stands up in dignity, not just for herself, but for the rights of many more of the downtrodden, establishing 5 orphanages in the process, and travelling to the US on invitation to raise funds. Sindhutai, or Mai as she is known, is a living legend, doing her work even today. Wonderful performances by the actors, the movie may be seen just for the underplayed performance of Tejaswini Pandit, who plays the protagonist in her youth, her real life mother, Jyoti Chandorkar playing the elderly Mai.

Went to a few book exihibitions exclusively for Marathi books. Found out that many of our favourite Tulika books are been published by Jyotsna Prakashan, a well known publishing house of Marathi children's books, at a fraction of the price, with full credits to Tulika's copyright.. Was thrilled on finding them. Picked up a lot of Marathi books for A and for myself. Now that she knows the Devanagari script, common to both Marathi and Hindi, A can read simple books on her own. Am really thrilled about it.

It goes without saying that both A and I read a lot of books including Harry Potter 6, which we will be finishing in a day or two. To be followed by book 7, so that we will be all set for the last movie due in mid-July.

Ate at a lot of interesting restaurants many times with family and friends, too many too enumerate. The high point was a small place where we ate home-style Malwani food. Yum!

Met a lot of my old friends after a loooooonnnngggg time.

Also met a new friend, Ugich Konitari, a wonderful blogger whose posts I love for the clear headed analysis of so many different things, done with a wry sense of humour. She has written a whole post here about our meeting. We met midway between our houses, and had lunch together at a mall where we even had icy cold gola for dessert. She was exactly as I had visualised her, and much more. It was lovely meeting you, Ugich.

Chilled out totally over our trip, and was back home with a few weeks to spare before school re-opened. Soon after we were back, A had her birthday party.

And we made mango pickle at home- A helped in lot in the process.

We also had a long awaited meet of Saffrontree members from Bangalore at Artnavy's lovely home.

Then there were the usual round of dentist, doctor, etc., shopping for school, and here we are. School has started!

Tulika books - Fifteen, and going strong!

Pic courtesy tulikabooks

I first encountered Tulika books four years ago when A was all of 6 yrs old, and had Hindi and Kannada as 2nd and 3rd languages at school.

I am quite good at Hindi, but it was a little difficult finding good Hindi books where I lived. I was a novice at Kannada, I could barely speak the language, enough to communicate with my househelp, the friendly neighbourhood green grocer and the various autowalas on whom I was dependent to get around the city, not being able to drive. And no, I could not read or write the language. So I had no idea where to begin to find good kannada books suitable for her. The best persons to ask were obviously her language teachers. Both of them refered me to Tulika books.

At that time, I couldn't find much in bookstores. Then I discovered a lady who supplied the books on direct orders. I obtained her catalogue, went through it, and ordered a whole bagful of them.

It was a revelation. Lovely paper, beautiful layouts, just enough text in a large font to tell the story, and plenty of wonderful illustrations to read it from. I got hold of a few basic bilingual books like Line and Circle,  and a few picture books in both Kannada and Hindi like Sameer's House, My Mother's Sari, Dancing on the Walls, Dancing Bees, Pavo and Cavo; Wordbird books like The Why-why Girl, Ekki Dokki, and Eecha Poocha; books from the Under the Banyan series like All Free, Mazzoo Mazzoo and Sweet and Salty.

The books soon became an addiction. I read all the Hindi books aloud to A, again and again, at different stages of her language ability, so that she could soon understand them, and read them herself. A also became my Kannada teacher, and we laboured together through the unfamiliar alphabet, she, having the advantage of all young kids learning a new language, a sponge-like ability to absorb the language, I having the advantage of the familiarity of the sounds, if not of the correct grammar. We understood the Kannada, of course, in the context of a Hindi or English version, and soon made out what the unfamiliar words meant, helped along with dictionaries.

I recommended them to relatives in Mumbai, also thought I'll be able to pick up Marathi versions for A there, but for some reason, they are not so easily found at book stores there. Tulika books, you need to find out why.

It was soon after this, that I came across another wonderful publishing house for books in Indian languages- Pratham books, but this post is not about them. Matter for another post, certainly. This post is about Tulika books, and I'll stick to that. Pratham books deserve a mention in this context, nevertheless.

I soon found many other books by Tulika, loved them, brought them home. Gifted them at birthdays, as return gifts, sent them overseas to blogging friends as a gift, recommended them to countless friends, read them, blogged about them, and participated in blogathons organised by  Tulika books throughout the whole of last year. Won a few books from them too. The last book that I won from them, Aajoba by Taruja Parande, is yet to be reviewed by me. I shall proceed to correct this oversight in this post.



pic courtesy tulikabooks

 So a big THANK YOU, Tulika books. Congratulations on having completed 15 years of publishing this year on the 15th of February. A very happy birthday. We have loved having you around, and we hope to continue to read many more such gems by you. It was also wonderful meeting a few of the team members a few months ago.

And my favourite Tulika? Why, it is My Mother's Sari, written by Sandhya Rao and illustrated by Nina Sabnani, of course! A and I have had some wonderful moments with this book.

And now for our review.

Imagine that a child is given the activity of writing in a scrapbook all that (s)he knows about a favourite relative, with her special memories and feelings about that relative. Imagine that the child is provided with lots of colouring and writing material, and all the photographs that can be found about the person in question. And there is no rush to finish the project, time enough for the child to reflect and marshall all thoughts and feelings.

What would be the result? A collage-y book like Aajoba-my grandfather.

Pic courtesy tulikabooks.com

Written and illustrated by Taruja Parande.
Published by Tulika books.
Ages 5+

The book begins with who the writer's grandfather was. After enumerating all that he wasn't, she goes on to say that "He was just very special because he was mine."

And then she goes on to write about all the little, special, memorable things that they went on to do together. Putting a snack together, pottering about in the garden, giving the cat a bath, feeding pigeons and then listening to the sound of their wings as they suddenly flew overhead. The story of her Aajoba and Aaji when they got married, and the stories he would tell at bedtime, the same story over and over again.

The book has plenty of personal photographs, accounts of Aajoba's hobbies, pictures of cards written to the writer in his handwriting, pictures of the bags he made from re-cycled clothes and so much more that gives us a comprehensive picture of the person he was in Taruja's memories.

All the more wonderful from a child's point-of-view, as these are simple, everyday pleasures that mean more to a child than all the big things in the world, the little things that go into weaving a tapestry of memories. A tapestry that is so strong that it can often define who you become, and can be a virtual security blanket for one in the big, bad world.

It is a wonderful book, one that we have loved reading together at home. It has revived many memories of my grandparents, and has led to A seeing her own grandparents in a totally different light. In fact, this is one activity that we have planned for the upcoming vacations- A trip to both sets of her grandparents is on the cards, and we will have a lovely time going through old photographs, and maybe come up with a scrapbook of our own!

Crossposted at Saffrontree.

Entering this book for the Reading the World Challenge 2011 over at Papertigers for A under India, non-fiction.



  

Here, there and everywhere...

This has been a hectic and fun two weeks!

First, there was the family function in Mumbai last weekend. Preparations for that had been on for almost two months. The first thing we did is getting A's clothes in order. I had two saries, one in pink and the other in a sea-green colour, which I had somehow always visualised as being made into lehengas for A. This was the ideal opportunity for that. So I got my tailor to agree to the idea (an old fellow who was scandalised at having to cut the saries!), designed the cholis to be stitched from the pallus, and the ghagaras with pleats giving way to a flare at the bottom. A loved them, the way the hem swished around her feet. Then I had to check if the blouses of the saris I wanted to wear fit, or get new ones stitched. A loved helping me pack, and as always, we packed, and re-packed several times before we thought we had everything. I contrast this with my husband's packing, which was done in 10 minutes on the morning of our journey, before he left for office! We had a great time at Mumbai meeting all our relations and A queening it as the only girl among all her cousins. However hectic it is, I usually feel refreshed after getting back to my roots.

Then there was the international postcard swap in which we had taken part. There were cards to be written, gifts that A wanted to send to be bought, and then the whole assembled together and posted. We had fun doing it!

Then, since we were going to be out of town for the week before A's birthday, we had to plan ahead for the cake cutting in school, and the party she wanted to have at home for her friends. That was a big job in itself. The school was informed, the cake ordered, food ordered, dress bought, invites handwritten by A to give her friends before we took off, duly delivered.

On the day of her birthday, about which I have written earlier, we had the excitement of getting the book from Tulika books. Also, Zoe wrote about the book I had sent her on her blog making me feel very warm, and A very excited. As if that wasn't enough, I got an invite that same day to join Saffrontree  as a member. Something I was very happy doing.

On friday, we had planned a treasure hunt for A's birthday party in my complex. I had taken photographs of 10 places in the grounds, and the children had to identify each of these, go there and hunt around for a clue. This was a puzzle or a riddle, which they had to solve, or a task, in which there was something exciting to eat or drink in between all that running around. The kids had a blast at the hunt, just as I had one planning it! Return gift was a copy of "Where's Hanuman," in keeping with the theme of a hunt.

There was more to follow, believe it or not! I had participated in a book review contest held by Crossword bookstores. This week, I got a mail from them saying my review had won. It is the same one that I have posted as my first post at Saffrontree.

I still have a long lists of tasks to do before I can really put my feet up. The first of which is the review I promised Tulika books. A has to read the book, give her input and then I write my post about it!

"And miles to go before I sleep!"

Happy Birthday, A !

It was A's birthday today! My little one is 9yrs old. Oh, how time flies!

We had a birthday cake cutting planned at school today. A was very excited and wore a new dress to school. I went there at noon, with a yum looking home-made chocolate cake with chocolate icing and sprinkles made by a very lovely lady in my complex who takes baking orders.

The school has a ritual in which children in the 1st standard go round a candle representing the sun holding a globe in their hand. They go round once for every year of their life and the parent tells everyone gathered a fact about them that is not otherwise known at school. A is 9, but since her birthday usually is during the vacation, she never had the opportunity to do this. This time, though, since the school was in session, she wanted to do it. So I told them 9 different things about her and they had a lot of fun talking about them. Then we had the cake cutting. There is something about this ritual that children truly enjoy. Somehow I could never understand a ritual in which we blow out the candles. This is so different from the "diyas" we light and take care that they do not extinguish until the oil is over.

After school, I took A to our favourite neighbourhood bookstore. Never mind that it does not always have all the books we are looking for. A had got cash as gifts from our relatives on our recent jaunt to Mumbai, and she wanted to buy something for her birthday. So we did. We spent quite a lot of time browsing and found some gems. (Another post on those later.) Then we were hungry, so it being A's day, she chose that we eat at Pizza Hut, so we did.

We came home tired after all that, and spent some nice minutes opening the gifts that she had already got from some friends and relatives. She also had a surprise parcel from Tulika books. In one of their newsletters a few days back, they had promised review copies to the first three people who would get the number of Tulika titles listed right. I did win one, and I requested them to inscribe it to A for her birthday, and send it addressed to her. Which they were kind enough to do. My thanks to them for sending it on the right day, unlike the last review copy that they had sent, which arrived very late. Not really complaining, as they have made a 9yr old very happy. Getting a book from the publishers whose books she enjoys so much really made her day. I have a very tired but very happy little girl sleeping inside now. She really had a wonderful day!

As an aside, check out this post by one of my favourite bloggers, Zoe, on "My mother's sari" by Tulika books  that I sent to her as my thanks for organising the international postcard swap.