Of summer and lemonade

This vacation, we won't be travelling anywhere, and we opted out of keeping busy with summer camps. Except for one that will be held in May over a period of two weeks, at the school.

So the plan was to read a lot, practice our music, have meaningful social interaction with friends, ditto at home, do all the art and craft that we wanted to do all year, but couldn't due to more pressing matters, follow-up a bit on school work done in the past and to be done in the future- in short, just chill.

After two weeks of chilling out, A and a friend in the complex came up with the idea of some enterprise- they decided to cash in on the extraordinarily hot summer for my city, and put up a lemonade stall for an hour everyday.

We decided to use this as a learning opportunity while having fun. So the girls first did a market research. Facilitated by me.

First to decide on the days, time and place. After much scouting around and discussion, the girls decided on a week, everyday in the evening from 5.30 to 7, next to our clubhouse. The idea was to keep it to a manageable number of days, and to catch the crowd that mills around playing or swimming in the pool.

Then they made a poster (they spent the whole afternoon one day doing it in summery colours) and put it up on the main complex notice board.

Then we decided on a recipe for the lemonade. One that would minimize work and serving time at the stall.

Squeeze out the lemon juice and strain it. Measure it.
For every measure of juice, take three measures of sugar, in a thick bottomed vessel.
Pour in water just enough to cover the sugar. Heat, stirring till the sugar dissolves. Bring to boil, and let it boil hard for a minute or so.
Take off as much of the greyish froth that comes up and discard. This contains most of the impurities in the sugar. Switch off the heat.
Let the sugar syrup cool for a few minutes. Not too much, or it will start re-crystallizing. Pour in the lemon juice and stir to mix well. Add a bit of salt. (This is to taste.) Your lemonade concentrate is ready.
Cool completely and pour into bottles to store in the refrigerator. It will stay unspoiled in there upto a month.
While serving, pour a large tablespoonful in the glass, add water, stir. Add optionals like ice cubes, flavouring (we decided on offering a choice between ginger powder, black salt, chat masala, elaichi powder, jeera powder and original), and your lemonade is ready!

We then went to different shops and compared prices of lemons, sugar and paper cups. We decided on paper cups as a mean between convenience (we did not have enough washable ones- which would also need to be washed every time, with possible hygiene problems) and environmental consciousness (no disposable plastic. Although paper cups also have a minus, they are at least biodegradable! ) and bought from a place that gave us the lowest price with a fair quality. Flavourings were at hand at home, so I decided not to add them to our costs. (Maybe next time I will!)

So the stuff was bought after costing was done, and the concentrate was made under adult supervision. I went with them to the shops, cut the lemons open and boiled the syrup. Everything else was managed by the two.

So they were all set with bottles of chilled water, lemonade concentrate, paper cups, small boxes of flavourings, ice cubes in an ice box, a bunch of spoons to measure out and stir, a money box with some change for the customers, a notebook to make tally marks in. Each glass was to be sold at Rs 5.

Day 1: Novelty is king. Many people came over to check out the lemonade and had at least one glass. Some gamely tried (this group includes us parents and parents of friends) each flavour in turn. The first day was a success.

Day 2: Some more of those who had not had any turned up. There were those from the children in the age range 6yrs- 14yrs who came again. One of the boys appointed himself 'the marketing man' after negotiating with the girls for a free glass every day. Also, every 100th glass was declared to be 'on the house.'

Some feedback came in the form of- keep a larger glass option too, and service should be a bit faster.

Day 3: Time to act on the feedback. We got a set of slightly larger paper cups, and kept them as an option for Rs 8. Also, some bottles of ready to pour out lemonade was kept, to be dispensed when a large crowd cam all at once. Fairly good sale, but not so much as the first two days. Fewer of the grown-ups came, though there was one couple who came every day. The 100th glass was dispensed to one of the kids who was a 'regular.'

Day 4: No adults, except said couple and doting parents. The crowd of children, though hung around from the beginning to the end, digging into their pocket money for repeated cups in different flavours and socializing. It was a party atmosphere.

Day 5: Ditto day 4. This time, the girls put on another offer. Anyone who wanted to take home some lemonade for their family was to get their own bottle. A half litre bottle would hold 3 glasses and cost Rs 15. A one litre bottle holding 6 glasses would get a volume discount @ Rs 25.

A few children got bottles, and the sale became a bit more brisk. The 200th glass was dispensed.

Day 6: It started raining in earnest from 3pm, and the girls were worried, as the stall was held in the open. They discussed the possibility of putting up a notice that the stall would be held the next morning if it did not stop raining. An idea that was finally shot down. It was decided to hold shop just inside the clubhouse, sheltered from the rain.

The discussions delayed things a bit, and by the time the girls reached the clubhouse with their stuff, there was already a crowd waiting.

Sale- ditto day 5. The idea of bottles caught on really well, and they sold more bottles than individual glasses. Even the children who wanted to drink right there and socialize now bought half litre bottles and stood around guzzling from them. Some adults too returned.

Day 7: The shopkeepers declared at the beginning that it was the last day, and anyone who wanted to buy should do so at the earliest, before stock finished. The news spread around the kid grapevine, and friends' friends also came. A veritable social network was in action. We were sold out within the first half hour, and there was a clamour for more. Maybe some other time.

The girls put in their own pocket money as capital- Rs 250 each. At the end of the week, the profit was Rs 152 each. Not bad.

A good lesson in costing, sale, market dynamics, social networking, mutual cooperation (the girls did not see eye-to-eye on all things and there was a lot of negotiation), basic calculations, (calculating the change to be given to customers) time management, handling pressure and customer feedback, and a lot else.

A lot of fun, too.

Friends, birthdays and gollus

The kid is safely back at school! So what did we do during these hols?

Attended in all 3 birthday parties. We were all invited as a family to all three, so they were family outings of a sort.

The first was at Gerry Martin Farm. Enjoyable as always. It was Gerry's mother-in-law's 60th birthday. She is a good friend in the complex, as is her daughter, Gerry's wife Yamini.

The next too was at a farmhouse we have been to earlier. Geese Haven is a wonderful farmhouse and homestay just an hour's drive from home, near the Art of Living centre on Kanakpura road. It was A's best friend in the complex, W's birthday. Her mother Jamie had arranged a fun treasure hunt for the kids, which is always a good idea at a place like this.

The third was at my dear friend P's home, her daughter's 11th birthday. We were 6-7 families, all close friends of P. Her cooking is yummy, and as usual we had a wonderful time.

It being Navratri time, there were of course the gollus to visit, as also many kanya-poojas. We were invited to a total of 8 gollus, of which we managed to make it to 6. Actually, I found it a bit unbelievable that this year was just the second time in all my years in Bangalore that I actually went for a gollu! Must thank the blogosphere for that.

Some gollus we visited.

Pic- Artnavy's album

Artnavy's. We had been invited here last year too, but could not make it. Made it a point to go there this year. 

Art had made some yummy payasam that we enjoyed. A and Anush hugged like long-lost sisters and promptly sat down to a spot of artwork- a picture of the Devi mask to be coloured. It had been Aditi's birthday just the week before, and we had not been able to be there for the party, so I had carried a book as a gift. Aditi was thrilled. She sat down cross-legged next to me with the book on her lap, and insisted that 'Aditi read.' I thought she wanted me to read aloud to her, but she demurred. 'Aditi read' meant exactly that. She sat there, turning pages, moving her finger down the text, making 'reading' sounds. It was so hilarious! 

Pic from Sangi's blog

The other notable gollu we visited was at Sangi's lovely home. Visiting Sangi, along with a visit to the famed kilo bookstore, has been long on the to-do list. The kilo book store has been postponed to another date (say when, Sangi. After diwali?) but the gollu was an iron-clad excuse to go over to her new place. It is a dream house, built at many levels, full of natural light, the woods peeping in - there is a wonderful wood-jasmine tree bending over the balcony, showering the balcony with its flowers, and bringing in the fragrance every time a breeze blows in. Went there with Choxbox and her brood (another reason to do this- what A wouldn't give to spend the day with her dear friend, Choxbox's FB, and of course, LB) and had a fab time. Great company, great conversation, lovely coffee, and of course, Loopy! Checked out the book shelf, but forgot the potter's wheel.

There were some gollus we couldn't make it to. Sorry Swapna. Next year! Also wanted to visit the gollu at Dhaatu, which Choxbox has been raving about. It is on till the 21st of October, 3-8pm, so we still have a chance of going. Should certainly try to make it.

Honorable mention under the gollus- the one put up by Choxbox's LB, and to which we were so lovingly invited.



Soft toy and doll gollu at Choxbox's

Pic from Google Images
Search "Diwali killa"

There were three more that we made it to- two in the complex, and one at another of A's friend's home. All of them transported me back to Diwali celebrations of my childhood, when we would make mud and rock forts (Killas- similar to complex sand castles). Work on these would start a week or so before diwali, and we would sow mustard and coriander seeds on it to depict the crops and plants. Toy soldiers on foot and horseback, farmer dolls, domestic and wild animal dolls would be placed at strategic points to complete a picture of the rural lands of Shivaji's time. The fort would be complete with a flag on the top, and would be lighted up by diwali lamps during the festival. Just like the navratri gollus, we would visit each other's houses to see the forts. We have these every diwali at my parents' place- now it is made by my nephew and niece!

Of course there were many play-dates through the holidays- either A had to go to a friend's place, or the gang would descend on our house.

We also watched some long-awaited movies-- something that we do not have much time for during school days. So we watched 'Gods must be Crazy 1 & 2,  'Born Free', 'Beautiful People', 'Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs', and re-runs of Harry Potter, all on DVD.

Books- of course, again. Any free time A had, she picked up a book. I've lost track of all those she devoured.

We also engaged in some mother-daughter cooking sessions, and every day she would decide what she wanted for dinner, and we would proceed to cook it together. A surprised her father one day with a breakfast of aloo paratha, nicely stuffed and rolled out round! I would, of course do all the work at the gas.

All this hectic activity was tempered by holiday homework, among which is a detective story written by her, inspired by a chapter in the curriculum from Emil and the Detectives. Needless to say, the book, too was read- at one sitting. (Thanks, Chox!)

And now, we look forward to a new term at school.

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!

A multi-flavoured vacation

Went for a 10-day vacation to Mussoorie and Shimla in the western Himalayas. The travelling included two flights, three train journeys and two taxi journeys. Which changed to two train and three taxi journeys unexpectedly on the penultimate lap due to our train being delayed by 6 hours thanks to the Gujjar agitation! There was no way we could avoid that, as we HAD to be in New Delhi by evening for a late evening flight back home.

Avoided most crowded city areas (except when absolutely unavoidable) and took many long walks through forested areas. The woods were quiet and cool, with many wonderful views enroute. We saw many snow covered peaks in the far distance- names like Kedarnath Badrinath which have only been heard of earlier. Even A managed the long treks. The longest we walked in a day was well over 16 kms, all uphill-and-downhill. "Aai, why did the British have to build all their towns on hills with such winding roads?" Often when we would be winded by steep uphill gradients, we would pause, catch our breath, have a swig of water, and set a reachable goal in the distance-"We'll walk till that tree covered with red flowers." That was how the two of us covered quite a lot of territory. (I really need to get that exercise schedule going ASAP. It was enjoyable, nevertheless! The husband, of course, had no fitness issues, being a regular exerciser.) 

Of course, we talked a lot about the historical aspects of the places we passed through and visited, with a lot of input from the Outlook Traveller books that we kept refering to. These are wonderful for nuggets of local history and folklore. For these were places where many a war had been fought, with references in the Mahabharatha, Ramayana, Mughal history, and of course the Raj.

Santa delivered on Christmas day, much to A's delight. We missed snow, though, as we had wonderfully clear blue skies all throughout our stay, and there were just a few clouds to be seen on our last day there. Every day we would check the weather for chances of precipitation, and would be disappointed. As if to rub it in, it snowed heavily on the day we were back home, and it was all over the news channels and newspapers. The silver lining was that we didn't get stranded there, as were many tourists who were still there. All roads and trains were non-functional for the next few days.

We also missed meeting Ruskin Bond, something that both A and I were looking forward to at Mussoorie. He was in Bhubaneshwar at that time, and reached Mussoorie quite late in the evening on our last day there. A had made two handwritten and decorated copies of a couple of stories she had written, so that she could gift one to Ruskin Bond and get one autographed from him. Ah, well, some other time. I know Mr Bond was there at a Pratham book event at Mumbai last year and at the the Bookaroo at New Delhi, and will be at the forthcoming Jaipur Literary Festival. Hope we can have something at Bangalore so that we can catch him here. Are you guys at Pratham books, Tulika books, Penguin books, Rupa publications, etc, and the like reading this?

So vacations over, we are back to our normal routine. It was certainly a welcome break, one that I needed. The best aspect of the 'break' was that I did not have to worry about cleaning and cooking for a whole of 10 days, and had some fabulous stuff to eat everywhere we went. The dahi (yogurt) and paneer we had out there was to kill for. Although I'm now scared of getting on to the weighing scales and find out my net gain. I hope some got lost in all those uphill walks!