The games we play....

One Thursday evening….

[It's start of weekend for residents in the Middle East incase you are wondering...]

“Let’s go to the mall” suggestion was met with cries of “It’s boring, we don’t want to go”.

“But why???” 

“We are always going to malls, it’s soo boring.”

Huh since when….they had the maximum fun out there; there were toy stores to be explored, bookshops to be visited, gaming zones to run amok in, freebies to be collected while the parents were usually found hurrying behind trying to keep up.

I would have been happy to hear this any other time but that day I wanted to go out.

I sat them down and stressed how lucky they were to have parents who didn’t need to be coerced into taking them out.

They looked at me unimpressed.

I told them about my childhood where I was taken out just twice a year.

That got some response.

“You are joking……only twice a year???” Nikita flabbergasted.

“Yes, on Christmas day and Easter……

……to visit relatives.” I added for a punch.

Both looked horrified.

Nikita pretended not to be affected and was like “Your time was different Mama so don’t compare then and now”

Point.

“How different” I challenged not willing to let it go so easily. “I was also a kid like you and would have loved to go to a mall[never mind there were no malls then] but my strict, authoritarian father decided we’ll visit relatives and so we went visiting.” I said woefully, mentally apologizing to my father for the way I was portraying him.

Two shocked faces stared pityingly at me and my deprived childhood.

Kids nowadays are funny I tell u….I so clearly remember jumping up and down for joy when my parents planned trips to visit relatives.

“I always obeyed my parents and did everything they told me to” I said grandly.

Nikita didn’t want to hear anymore….I think I over-acted a bit and the lost the bit of ground I had gained till then.

“We don’t feel like going to the mall, we want to stay home. Didn’t u say we’ll rest this weekend, so we want to rest” the siblings on the same page for once.

Rats.

For a change the better-half & I wanted to go out and these two were playing party-poopers.

“I know exactly why you want to stay home” I said sternly. “You want to play on the tab right….right”

Two guilty faces confirmed my doubts. Well I didn’t blame them. If my father had downloaded 2 new games on the tablet for me that evening I too probably wouldn’t have wanted to go out anywhere. Too bad their mother was not so understanding.

“Alright we’ll stay home but both of you will not touch the tablet….

….or any other gadget in the house for the rest of the day.” I said closing all loopholes.

Two dismayed faces stared back.

Naina opened her mouth to protest but Nikita stopped her and said “Alright we won’t touch the gadgets, but we can read books right”

How could I refuse to let them read books without coming across as petty?

So they settled down comfortably to read.

I think Nikita realised that we wanted to go out more than them and was in her “two can play at this game” mode.

The better-half and I sat facing eachother, wondering what to do. I wanted to go out and by hook or by crook we were going to. What the heck…..I had already scrubbed and cleaned and closed the kitchen for the day thinking we were eating outside. No way was I going back in there to make dinner.

“In all other houses children are asking but their parents are too busy to take them out. Here we are telling we’ll take u out but you want to stay home to play some silly game.” I said in irritation.

[Silence]

You two are so lucky…..even before you say it you have parents who get you what u want. Go on, just look around you, you have everything, instead of counting your blessings and staying happy…..”

“But we do thank God for everything and we are happy…..we just want to stay home and not go anywhere out today.” Nikita says reasonably.

Deuce.

Silence reigned in the house for a few minutes.

The better-half started drumming on the dining table to hide his impatience.

I was hopping mad now.

Desperate times called for desperate measures.

“Alright, we won’t go out if that’s what you want. You are right, it’s not good to go out all the time. I’ll make something ‘nice’ to eat and we can all laze around at home”

I discussed the dinner menu with the better-half.

“What do you think I should make for dinner???? I’ve got Rice, Rasam & stir-fry in the fridge or should I make Kanji*???”

The better-half’s fingers faltered for a few seconds and then resumed drumming when he realized my game plan.

The children who were merrily swinging on the recliner till then froze in shock.

“I think Kanji is better because it’s healthy and also it will take me just ½ an hour to make it.” 

The better-half drummed a tune on the table approvingly.

The recliner creaked to a halt.

Sensing victory I pressed home my advantage.

“It's too late to make a side dish but we can have it with some yummy pickle.”

Books lay forgotten as two white faces watched us like hawks.

“Ofcourse if we were going out, we could have had Burgers or Pizza or Chinese” I smashed the point home.

The ball in their court now, we waited nervously.

….

….

“We don’t want to stay home, we want to go out….we love going to the mall” wailed Naina.

Game. Set. Match.


*rice gruel

A Review

I got a few mails in the past month asking me for the details of my hotel stay in Rajasthan. I replied to them ofcourse and then I thought I'll also put it up on the blog for your information. Just think of it this way, I'm helping you in advance to plan your trip to Rajasthan whenever you decide to go there. Instead of wasting hours/days/weeks researching on the net where to stay you can straightaway zero in on your location especially when it comes from a ermm...reliable source like me;-).

Like I said earlier we did a lot of searching on the net to locate a good hotel without going overboard or scrimping. We finally zeroed in on three of them Trident, Chunda Palace and one more whose name I forget now. We also had Taj Lake Palace on our wishlist but the prices were so steep that it remained just that..a wish;-). 

Now Trident which is managed by The Oberoi Group had this 'Discover India with Trident' offer which we found very tempting not to mention suited our needs. We could stay at any of their hotels at all the places[if there was one ie] we visited in Rajasthan. The offer was flexible and we could plan our own itinerary. The staff were very informative and helped us make up our minds with all the little comforts they threw into the offer at no extra cost:-).

Front View, Trident, Udaipur

We stayed at the Trident, Udaipur first. Until one reaches the destination there is always this doubt whether we have made the right decision. There was a feel-good feeling as soon as we entered the grounds of the hotel; the architecture & the well-kept lawns won us over in the beginning itself. 

Lobby, TridentUdaipur

The reception and lobby[pic above] were designed keeping the Rajasthani aesthetics in mind and gave us the 'feel' of the place we were visiting for the first time.

Beautiful Corridor, Trident Udaipur

 The door you see in the picture above led to the restaurant where we had most of our meals. The breakfast buffet which was included in the offer was excellent......seriously it was a grand spread with Indian, continental, European, so many choices. The food was warm, tasty and with just right amount of spice. The servers attentive and quick to get us dishes which were not served[like eggs without yolks, waffles, etc] on the table. 

When I scanned through the menu card later I realised ordering A la carte was not a great idea as most of the dishes were high-priced individually, so if there were more than 3-4 people  in the group it was better to opt for the lunch and dinner buffet. In our case it worked out fine because kids below 10 years of age went free:-).

They also had a very good complimentary tea with snacks every evening but we weren't able to advantage of that everyday since we were out sight-seeing most of the day. 

Mesmerizing view, TU

The children really enjoyed their stay here; there was lots of space to run around and play and ofcourse the swimming pool. There were Peacocks and deer to be sighted, not to mention the tame squirrels darting about to keep them entertained. There is also a Childrens Club where they could paint pictures, play chef and try their hand at pottery. The staff were all very friendly & patient with them.

The extensive grounds, Trident, Udaipur

On the downside, the hotel rooms were a bit small but since we were hardly in there except to sleep it was okay and room service was always on hand to keep it tidy. 

Barah Mahal, inside TU grounds

There is a real palace[a teeny one;-)] called the Bara Mahal right inside the Trident grounds. Not a huge place but nevertheless exciting to explore. Seems like it was built by Maharana Fateh Singh in the 1800's for his hunting pursuits. But now it is just a sanctuary for birds, deer, monkeys and reptiles. We climbed up to the open terrace and were able to get beautiful shots of the place and the surrounding areas.

There was also a curio shop right outside the hotel gates which was very convenient for our last minute shopping. When it was time to go to Jaipur we did feel a little sad to leave and contented ourselves by taking pictures, lots of them:-).

Trident, Jaipur

Facing the beautiful Mansagar lake, Trident Jaipur had a enchanting front view. The mountains you see in the picture above are the Aravalli mountains; a beautiful sight to wake upto if you are staying in a room facing the lake.

Trident, Jaipur 

I have to tell you honestly here that after Trident Udaipur, Trident Jaipur was a bit of a letdown. They didn't have a lot of space, the quaint charm & holiday atmosphere which we enjoyed at the Trident, Udaipur was missing. This one was more a business hotel....the kind, people travelling on work would choose to unwind in at the end of a hectic day.

But the staff here made up for it with their service. They were very attentive to our needs...ALWAYS. Any wish of ours was their command, literally. They very often went out of their way to make us especially the kids, happy.

Puppet Show[sorry abt pic qlty]

They also had some kind of entertainment happening most nights. We managed to catch a charming puppet show and a kind of handicraft display. There was this old man & his assistant selling trinkets....while the assistant helped us choose the accessories we wanted, the old man was making the very things in front of our eyes. It was fascinating and Nikita didn't budge from his side all evening. I too watched him make colourful bangles out of resin collected from a particular tree. He told me the name of the trees too but I've forgotten now. It took him 30-40 minutes to make 4 separate bangles & I for one couldn't blame him for the exorbitant amount he charged for them;-P.

Trident, Jaipur

And I have to mention this particular incident which makes us shake our heads even now whenever we think about it. On the last day we were at the bar[at Trident, Jaipur] and the men decided to live it up a bit as it was the end of the holiday and all. I was there solely for the mocktails/chicken tikkas & other tasty titbits;-P. We must have been there for almost 2 hours and quite enjoyed sparring with eachother about the highs and lows of our trip/ culture and traditions of Rajasthan/ the state of the economy and other subjects. At the end when we asked for the bill we were told by the waiter who served us that it was on the house. With various expressions ranging from 'Oh' to 'eh' we stared at him. He explained with a smile that the General Manager of the hotel was there at the bar for a while and he had personally told him to. I groaned thinking about the conversation which he must have heard[which we did more to irritate eachother than out of any belief;-/] while the better-half chided the waiter for not telling us earlier. His logic was that we could have ordered the more expensive bottles if we had known;-P.

And while I'm at it let me tell one more incident and this I tell you was really embarrassing. One particular employee was particularly attentive and served us well and so I decided to tip him on the last day. He refused the money saying it was against the hotel's rules to accept tips. I cringe at the memory really...how could I have been so thoughtless especially when I had already seen the notice which stated that the hotel didn't encourage the practice of tipping individually;-(.

Like I said, the staff at this hotel won us over with their earnestness and their priority that we enjoy our stay with them. When I look back now I realise that our whole trip went off so well mainly because we picked a really good hotel to stay. So very often our entire trip[which we plan so carefully] can be spoilt by an indifferent hotel or inattentive service staff. Thankfully we chose well.

Note to doubtful souls: Nobody sponsored/paid or forced me to put up this review. I just thought it will be helpful for anybody who was looking for a 'very good' hotel to stay with family in Udaipur or Jaipur:-). 


p.s: This was supposed to be a straight-forward review with a few pictures. But I should have known I couldn't keep it short;-P.

Mark my words

N&N posing in front of a funny mirror

The term exams got over last week.

[happy dance]

Now all of you can thank me one by one.

[N waits expectantly for outpouring of gratitude]

……

[All she gets in return is a yawning silence]

You didn’t notice???

[N put hands on hips and taps foot on ground impatiently]

Dammit, I take so much effort and u guys don’t even notice anything;-/.

I said the kids' Exams are OVER.

……

[N takes a deep breath & practices the little yoga Nikita taught her when she was in 3rd std]

“Didn’t u realise I didn’t bug you with any post on how fast the exams were approaching and how horrible they were going to be and how I was going crazy searching for text-books and notebooks which had mysteriously disappeared over the holidays and how the better-half was not helping and how my BP was going up and how the kids were least bothered and how….”

“Oh just forget it, I have a good mind not to tell you anything;-S”

……

……

[N imagines a crowd of bloggers pleading with her to forgive them]

Alright, alright I’ll tell you only if u answer my question truthfully???

And you ofcourse know very well that I can’t hide anything from you for long;-/.

So like I was telling u, the exams went off very well….

.....actually very badly:-(. 

Both Nikita and Naina came back home with expressions more morose than the other’s each day of the exams. I kept quiet as a mouse as they showed me all the questions they blundered on. Well it was not really their fault was it. Their exams were held immediately after school reopened after the holidays. And we as parents should have planned our holiday after taking their exams into consideration. No point talking about it after the episode:-(.

Anyways, while the better-half and I were still dilly-dallying about what is the best mode of action to take from now on, Nikita has decided for herself that it did not make sense to keep waiting for her parents to wake up from their apathy, instead she herself must be vigilant about these things. And the sweet kid that she is, she even worded it very carefully so as to not hurt our feelings in any way.

Atta girl
[N pats herself  in appreciation ]

Now I must find a way to get her to invoke the same feelings of motivation in Naina;-P

Seems like Naina took so much time over her Hindi paper that the boy next to her who had finished almost an hour before her asked very concerned “Naina, tera saboon slow hai kya???”*

;-D

Some of the questions in the GK Paper Naina attempted:

Q1. Who is Mukesh Ambani?  

A.   Mukesh Ambani is a very famous Fashion Designer.

Q2. Who is MS Subbulakshmi?
A. MS Subbulakshmi is a very famous person. He has won many awards and is very very famous.

Q3. Who wrote Malgudi Days? 

A.    RK Kipling

We just scraped through GK with minimum marks and are very grateful we passed.

On the other hand Nikita got 20/20 in GK….full marks only in GK but I’m still grinning like a fool;-D.

She too faced problems but of another kind. She is not the topper in her class but atleast she tries. So the kids who are sitting close to her during the exams are peeking into her paper to get the answers they don’t know. Seems like one kid was so unprepared that she copied 90% of Nikita’s answers. Nikita hates it but is not able to express her displeasure vocally. So she compensates by writing in a lousy handwriting.

There was one question which asked the name of the palace built by the Portuguese in Cochin?? And Nikita wrote the correct answer. 

After the exam the girl who copied everything from Nikita was like

“What a funny name for a palace???”
And Nikita was like “What so funny about it???”

The girl was hopping mad when she found out it was Mattencherry palace and not “Mutton Curry palace”;-D.

Last heard the girl is totally confused as to how Nikita got full marks while she got only 11/20 inspite of copying everything from Nikita’s paper;-).

And I haven’t forgotten the question I was going to ask even if you are going to pretend u have… 

Reflections Survey Sheet

Marks: 100

Attempt any one:

Q1. What kind of posts N writes is most irritating???    (10 marks)
a. the paranoid post before the exams
b. the neurotic post during the exams
c. the anxious post after the exams
d. All of the above and all the rest of her posts

OR

Q2. Given the hectic and busy life N leads, how often do u expect her to update her space???   (10 marks)

a. once a week
b. Bi-monthly
c. once in a month
d. whenever she feels like

Kindly post your answers in comment section with detailed explanation.                         (90 marks)

************************************************

*Lifebuoy ad

The Mystery of the Ringing Doorbell

Ting-tong

The doorbell pealed suddenly in the middle of the afternoon.

I waited expectantly for the kids, the better-half,  somebody, anybody to open the door. I had just sunk into a couch after clearing lunch and was feeling lethargic.

Obviously everybody around was feeling the same;-/.

I reluctantly got up to answer the doorbell wondering who it was. I knew it was not the kid’s friends because those kids never rang the doorbell, they just  knocked on the door[by now we are familiar with the different types of knocking and can accurately predict which kid it is even before we open the door;-P]

Who the heck comes visiting right after lunch anyway???

I looked through the peep hole.

Couldn’t see anybody.

Opened the door and looked left, then right, then left again and right and everywhere.

There was nobody out there.

The kids also emerged to inspect the visitor.

All 3 of us looked at eachother in confusion.

Realisation dawned a split second later.

Somebody rang the doorbell and ran away.

The kids were indignant. “The cheek……”

I wanted to laugh.

Whoever it was made a clean getaway.

We went back inside, kids animatedly discussing who it could have been.

……

3 days later around the same time….

Ting-tong

Arriving at the same conclusion all 3 of us hurried to the door to catch the offender.

But by the time we got up from where we were lounging around and rushed to the front door the offender had escaped once again.

The kids were hopping mad. What guts…they fumed.

This time I walked down the corridor to check the lift.

It was stationary.

Opened the door to the staircase and listened.

Absolutely quiet in there.

So it was somebody from our floor itself.

Some kid was right then standing behind his/her door and snickering away silently I supposed.

But who???

The kids were heatedly arguing amongst themselves as to who it could be.

My apartment was at the end of the corridor.

The apartment opposite ours was occupied by an Arab couple with a toddler.

So they were ruled out.

At the other end were 4 doors placed close together. All the 4 apartments had kids.

“Mama, I heard the door to the garbage chute bang shut just before our doorbell rang. Which means whoever is ringing the bell is going down this passage to throw garbage and then ringing our doorbell and running away“.

Hmmmmmm…..

2 days later round about the same time again…

Ting-Tong Ting-Tong Ting-Tong

The kids and I dropped everything we were doing and ran like maniacs to the front door. In those few seconds we heard the kid rushing noisily down the corridor and slammed his/her door just as we opened ours.

I banged the wall in half amusement and frustration.

The kid was getting bolder. A simple ting-tong was now a Ting-Tong multiplied into 3. I was soo hoping to catch the kid red-handed and have some fun.

The kids were boiling in fury. They had already come to a few conclusions by now.

“Mama…we are sure it’s JoJaJo” burst out Nikita angrily.

Most of the kids on the floor were their friends and they played together all the time.  JoJaJo were 3 kids with names starting with J[wht else] and the only kids they had some issues with.

“Stop Nikita, we cannot accuse anybody without proof” I warned.

Now we were alert all the time especially after lunch. If we heard anybody open the door to the garbage chute[luckily for us, it opened with a noise] all of us looked up in expectation and waited.

But nothing happened for the next 2 days.

Then at 11pm one day, just as I was winding up for the day….

TING-TONG-TING-TONG-TING-TONG

My heart nearly jumped out in shock. In the silence of the night the ring was so loud that for a moment I just stood there and did nothing. The better-half and kids who had already gone to sleep an hour earlier, got up with a start.

I rushed to the door but again I was too late.

But enough was enough. Being disturbed in the middle of the night was not funny.

We decided to knock on JoJaJo’s house and asked if any of the kids went to drop the garbage a few minutes back.

JoJaJo’s mother was like “No they didn’t, they slept almost an hour ago”.

I knocked on the next door.

They took almost 5 minutes to open the door.

The entire family was already in bed.

At the next house too they denied any knowledge of the incident.

I hesitated to knock on the last door.

The Irani family who stayed there had 2 girls above the age of 10 and the woman of the house was a formidable lady who was well-known for her terror tactics. All the kids on the floor detested her because she was always complaining about the noise they were making. Even we kept out of her way;-P.

Since I knocked every other door I reluctantly knocked on hers too.

She came out and said everybody was asleep and what’s more, nobody from her house will do something like this. Behind her I saw one of her kids peeping from one of the rooms.

I came back all upset and puzzled.

I felt really terrible going like that and knocking on doors in the middle of the night but this was getting a little out of hand.

I related the whole episode to the better-half and kids . The better-half then said he heard a slap and a child crying just a few minutes earlier. We have a window near the bedroom which is left open sometimes and if the neighbours left their window opened too we could clearly hear what was going on there.

The kids & I looked at eachother in shock because the Irani family stayed there.

We couldn’t believe it. Her daughters were almost 14 & 11 yrs old. Even though those kids didn’t come out to play with mine there was no animosity between them as such. So then why…

We went to sleep after that.

The whole incident was discussed and examined with a microscope the next day but no conclusions were reached.

Anyways the problem was solved.

Or so we thought.

The very next day at around 9pm.

TING-TONG-TING-TONG-TING-TONG

To say we were stunned was an understatement. I was at the far end of the house fixing the kids beds for the night. Too far away.

“Nainaaaaaa, open the door quick” all of us yelled at the same time. 

Naina was at the water dispenser filling her glass and closest to the door.

So many thoughts went through my mind.

It was not the Irani kids after all.

What will I do when I catch the kid red-handed???

There was no doubt here we’ll catch the budding delinquent because Naina was already opening the door and we could still hear noisy footsteps rushing off.

Just as we opened our door, the door opposite ours slammed shut and we heard the key being turned in the lock.

We were totally taken aback.

How could it be????

The Arab who lived opposite our apartment was a new tenant and as far as we knew, lived there with his wife and 10 months old child. Their names were not even there in our list of suspects.

The better-half knocked on their door.

The Arab came out carrying his baby. The baby is one of the prettiest, cutest and most endearing toddler. My kids loved her and go running to [baby]talk to her whenever they saw her.

Emerging out of my thoughts, I see the better-half explaining the problem.

Within 2 minutes we had our suspect in our hand.

Suspects actually.

The Arab had his relatives staying with him for the holidays. Looking back now, we remember seeing them once or twice. Their 3 kids[3 cheerful & naughty looking kids of different age;-D ] would come out everyday to throw garbage down the chute. While going back into the house they found it very amusing to ring our doorbell and run away.

The Arab was so apologetic that we felt bad and ended up reassuring him.

Nikita then put everything  together and presented her deductions….

“Those kids took turns to ring our door-bell everyday which explains the varying tones in which it was rung” she explained authoritatively. “And Mama, what we thought was footsteps running down the corridor was actually the sound of 3 children rushing through their door one by one” concluded Nikita, wrapping up the case neatly.

Only one doubt remains….

If these kids were the culprits, then why did the Irani lady wake her supposedly sleeping child at 12 in the night & make her cry;-o???

Do you have any such solved/unsolved mysteries to share:-)????

Trip Along

Way back in March itself we had decided to stay back in Dubai this year for the summer holidays[July-Aug]. Reasons were many, and all of them valid too. But 1 month into the holidays we were all climbing the walls for different reasons.

And worse, our whole building wore a deserted look.

Even the few [kids I mean] I met were like “We are going to our country next tuesday” and I found myself desperately wanting to reply “Even we are going to our country next Monday, so there”.

Simply everybody we knew and didn't were travelling out for the summer.

We had absolutely no plans to go.

After all decisions were made to be followed, right.

So we changed our minds and left to India in a hurry.

Friends asked concerned “Any emergency???”

And we were like noo, noooo….and left the sentence hanging because we had no clear answers for our change of mind.

The kids and I took off [the better-half was swamped with work which was part of the reason why we decided against going in the first place] to my mom’s place in Bangalore.

Not satisfied with the distance we covered we sat around planning another trip, with family this time.

Goa was my brother-in-law’s first and only choice.

But friends who just came back from Goa warned us “It’s drizzling continuously. We stayed cooped up inside the resort all the 4 days we were there.”

“Delhi????” I ventured. I always wanted to see the Taj Mahal.

“Delhi is flooded. The newspapers are full of it. Infact it’s raining everywhere, given the season it’s not surprising is it??” BIL looks at us reprovingly as to why we pick the rainiest of seasons to come home.

Smarting under the veiled attack of ‘not reading newspapers’ I mutter huffily “I’m quite sure it’s not raining in Rajasthan”.

The next thing I knew we were booking tickets to Rajasthan.

We settled for a 5 days trip divided between Udaipur and Jaipur. Mt. Abu was reluctantly ruled out because we knew the kids wouldn’t be too happy with all the travelling. We were also fortunate to find a lovely hotel at such a late stage.

The trip was good. The journey spaced out and comfortable. The hotels first-rate.

But even then, almost everybody had issues.

The kids were not happy about all the sight-seeing  we were doing everyday.  All the travelling from one palace/fort to another in the heat took some out of them. We were sympathetic and cut out a few forts and temples from our list to keep them happy. But they were not very impressed. Today if you ask the kids about their trip they'll tell you in a loud and dramatic voice “You know, we were attacked by monkeys in Rajasthan.” 

Both sets of grand-parents got a shock when they heard this.

Nothing like that happened….they are talking about 1 or 2 monkeys who came a bit too close hoping they’ll get a bit of the ice-creams the kids were eating.

"Nooo wayyy…there were atleast 5 monkeys."
[I can hear their voices in my head stoutly defending their story]

And that is all they remember about Rajasthan;-/

Coming back to the subject, the BIL also had complaints. He was not enthusiastic about the trip to Rajasthan in the first place. He still thought Goa was the ideal destination. The airfare itself irritated him. Well it stumped all of us. You knw our airfare to Rajasthan[from B’lore] was more than our airfare to Dubai[from Rajasthan];-o. I'm sure he was thinking we could have done Thailand on the same budget;-).

The better-half[he took a break & joined us in Rajasthan] came away disconcerted and disillusioned at all the going-ons. He didn’t have any specific incident to tell but I knew. You see, he has always lived outside India and went home only for the holidays. Which meant he didn’t really meet ‘people’….u know like aam aadmi* of India. Being jostled in lines and spoken to rudely and watching officials behave arrogantly towards the tourists all unsettled him. His question of the day[actually he pondered over it everyday] was “why were people in authority acting like they owned the place they worked for. And inspite of paying the amount they demanded as entrance fee[& what not] why were we being treated like second-class citizens and palmed off second quality goods in our own country??” We all went through the same experiences as him but the difference was that we took it in our stride...well it is not something new, is it????

On the last night of the trip my sister & I stood contemplating all these issues outside our hotel rooms[while the others slept]. I lowered my voice and whispered  “But I enjoyed everything…..it was fantastic, even the noise, the grime, the chaos, the delays, everything” and looked at my sister almost guiltily.

She leaned forward conspiratorially and whispered “Me too”.

We couldn't stop giggling for like 5 minutes;-D.

Seriously I loved it……….I loved the visits to the heritage sites and found the history of each, fascinating. I rued that the guides rushed us through everything but then I know if I went there without one I would have wandered around the same place whole day leaving time for nothing else. The greenery was amazing; I thought Rajasthan was a desert but it was green and so fertile everywhere I looked. And the Aravalli mountains all around was...how do I put it...it was all sooo romantic. Later somebody told us that the monsoons made it seem like that and that Jaisalmer and beyond were more desert-like. The weather was a bit hot and it sometimes rained too but that never came in the way of our plans for the day.

The locals were very approachable and had the tourist routine down pat. And the traders were so good at selling their wares that we felt guilty if we didn't buy something from them. We picked up razais**, saris, paintings, carved pieces, carved pencils[the kids of course], magnets[heee] and even a pagdi[Rajasthani headwear];-D.

And oh how could I forget the puppets….the kids were soo thrilled with a pair I got for them at a puppet show the hotel organised for us. The next day I found the same puppets for half the price in the market;-(.

We also tried the local food, the main attraction being the Rajasthani Thali…..delicious.

Rajasthani Thali

I took lots of pictures and here are a few....

City Palace, Udaipur

Udaipur is known both as the 'City of Lakes' and 'The White City' because of the marble work the place is famous for. It is also known as 'Venice of the East'.

Taj Lake Palace, Udaipur

Most of the palaces have been converted to luxury hotels and the Lake palace[above] covers an entire island in the Pichola lake. We didn't go there but I heard it's an experience of a lifetime.

White City, Udaipur

Artist at work

The train journey from Udaipur to Jaipur took around 6 hours and we got to see a lot of villages and cities on route.

City Palace Entrance, Jaipur

Jaipur is known as the pink city but the colour is not exactly pink, more terracotta. Most of the old city wears this colour...seems like the law states that they have to be painted this colour and no other.

Jaipur City Palace

The palace is very imposing, interesting and spread over acres. The present Maharaja who is a teenager[seriously, he is] lives in the yellow portion of the palace[see above pic].

Largest Silver urn in the world

Seems like more than 100 years ago the then Maharaja of Jaipur had to attend a meeting in London. To avoid the punishment of crossing the ocean he carried with him 3 huge silver urns of water from the Ganges for his exclusive use. Each urn can hold 9000 litres of water. I remember reading this a few years back in 'A Princess remembers' by Gayathri Devi. At one point our guide was mixing up a lot of info which made me wonder if these guys were making up stuff as they went along;-).

Entrance to Jantar Mantar

According to Wikipedia "The Jantar Mantar is a collection of architectural astronomical instruments, built by Sawai Jai Singh who was a Mughal Commander and served Emperor Aurangzeb and later Mughals. He had constructed a total of five such facilities at different locations, including the ones at Delhi and Jaipur. The Jaipur observatory is the largest and best preserved of these. It has been inscribed on the World Heritage List as "an expression of the astronomical skills and cosmological concepts of the court of a scholarly prince at the end of the Mughal period".

Samrat Yantra, Jantar Mantar

Can u see those 2 people in the corner of the picture??? Now just imagine how tall the structure is:-o???

Amer Fort

Amer Fort is a major tourist attraction located high on a hill. The view is breath-taking from there; Nikita & I took a lot of pictures. Any angle I missed she covered;-). But when I look at them now, none of the pictures I feel really captured the essence of those moments spent there.

Palace Grounds, Amer Fort

Visit the place in the morning for the elephant rides. Mostly foreigners were queuing up;-D. I think the authorities charged around Rs.900 per person for the ride.

Kitchen area, Amer Fort

Does it look familiar to any of you??? Seems like the kitchen scene[where Jodha cooks for Akbar] of the Hindi movie 'Jodha-Akbar' was shot here:-).

Jaigarh Fort

By now the information on the different palaces and forts were getting muddled up in my head. All I remember about this fort is that this is where the monkeys attacked us;-P. Yep right at this point.

Camel rides being offered

And finally what's a trip to Rajasthan worth without a camel ride:).

All in all, a wonderful trip especially since it happened so unexpectedly & also maybe because I went with no expectations.

*common man

**quilt

"If the path be beautiful....

.....let us not ask where it leads" ~ Anatole France

'Path'etic return to the blog world, you think:-P???

Reflection

I've been...

I've been down in the dumps.

Struggling with fears.
Couldn’t get a grip on it at first.

Now I've learned to like it here.

Summer is here and how.

The sunlight is blinding.

You'll find me lurking in the shadows.

For the darkness is soothing.

Everything’s an effort.

What’s the point??? is the question.

For every step forward,

There are two taken back.

Do not worry, my fellow blogger and let me be.

I assure you I’m content in my misery.

There is no one, who knows me as well as I do.
I’m hoping to be back among you in a month or two.

On a Power Trip

Schools have started and once again we got geared up to go through what we went through every year. 

The problem can be summed up in one word, Naina.

I can go back to April 2007 and start from when she first started school.

But I want to hold on to the few readers I have left.

So let’s just say that the first few months of a new school year has always been traumatic for Naina. 

She takes a lot of time adjusting to the new teachers and surroundings.

The past couple of years have been relatively easier because she’s made a few friends at school and goes to school to be with them. 

Even then she always has some issue, the last 2 yrs the boys in her class were the bane of her existence. They were rude, they were rough, they were mean, they were pulling her hair, they were jumping out of the window[that bit was fun she admits;-P]

This year it’s about wanting to be a monitor.

At the start of every year the class teacher chooses a few students to be monitors.

There is the class monitor who’s in charge of keeping the class quiet.

The discipline monitor who checks if the class comes in the correct uniform, cut their nails, etc.

The AC monitor[don’t ask] is in charge of keeping the temperature in the class moderate. The position is prized because she has the power[read remote] to make everybody's life miserable;-P

And the board monitor who’s in charge of updating/clearing the board before and after every period.

Everyday for the 1^st 2-3 weeks after the new school term started, Naina came back from school unhappy/ outraged/livid/ despondent/ upset that she never got chosen for any of these positions.

I totally get why  the teachers don’t select her because outwardly Naina looks very quiet, shy and diffident; they probably think she will not be upto it.

But we at home face the brunt of her unhappiness; some days we are subjected to a barrage of emotional outpouring after she comes back from school……about how the teachers are misguided by wrong information, about how the class monitors are nincompoops who have no clue how to go about their jobs and how if she was given the responsibility she would turn the world around.

To add to her woes, her sister is chosen as duty monitor for the school this year. Now here she is in a peculiar dilemma. On one hand she is proud her sister is patrolling the corridors of the school and on the other wary.

Yeah well Nikita was totally vocal about how she was going to pull Naina up if she stepped a milliinch out of line.

Seems like 2 days back Nikita instructed Naina & her friends to lock their fingers behind their backs while they walked back to class after recess.

“How are we supposed to that Mama????” demands Naina indignantly. “We’ve got our lunchboxes and water bottles in our hands”.

Now picture Nikita grinning at me in the background.

With sister also in important position Naina was getting very agitated and dejected in turns. Me telling her n number of times that her turn will come soon was like calling my building watchman in an emergency. Well, his phone is always switched off;-P.

Anyways Naina came back home from school last week in high spirits.

“I’ve been made board monitor” yells Naina as soon as she got off the school bus and came running to hug me dump her heavy school bag on me.

“That’s great news” I exclaim, mentally thanking the teacher who must have sensed my desperation somehow. “So what does a board monitor exactly do???”

“A board monitor writes down the day’s time-table on the board everyday. Then she is in charge of clearing the board and writing down the subject name before and after every period. Then she must…….and she also…..isn’t this the best news ever….I’m sooo happy……”

The news was then shared with the father, the grandparents and cousins in India and all her friends in the neighbourhood. All of us were very happy for her and there was much celebrating .

At night while packing her school bag for the next day she asked to take the markers & duster to school.

“Why do u need to take them from home??? It’s the school’s responsibility to provide them.”

“The school gives but I need to take them.”

“Why???”

Silence.

Why do u need to take them Naina???

Because…

Because????

The school markers are being used by somebody else.

Huh??? So go take it from her.

I cant.

Why not???

Because she won’t give it to me.

Tell your teacher then.

I can’t.

Why???

Because she’s the ‘real’ board monitor.

Silence.

Everybody from every corner of the house was intently listening to the conversation now.

Very cautiously I ask “But you told us you are the Board monitor???”

I am.

“Nainaaaaaa” I yell exasperatedly.

“I am, I am…I’m the assistant board monitor.” Naina glowers at me daring me to react.

Silence.

I vaguely heard sounds of muffled snickering in the background.

“REalllly I AM, I went up to  Maam and asked if I could help Snehal with the board monitoring and she said yes.” Naina defends herself.

Silence.

Did she really say yes Naina??? I ask wearily.

“Yes she did” says Naina huffily.  “Maam was very busy correcting our answer sheets and I went and asked her then. She didn’t say anything the 1^st two times and then when I asked her again she said okay. “

I knew this technique so well. This is exactly the same method she uses with me to get her way.

“Mama pleeeease, pleeeease let me take the markers with me." she pleads.

I gave up. 

Anyways it ended well. Despite my fears the class teacher didn’t go back on her words and according to Naina she’s a major hit with both her teachers and classmates with her neat handwriting(???) and attention-grabbing doodles on the sidelines of the whiteboard.

And I've been busy too, I’m out and about doing my own version of monitoring. Now that the temperatures have gone up I’m back at my favourite pastime and that is pressing the down arrow button on the AC control panels to a moderate temperature, in the corridors of my building. 

It’s very disappointing to see how people are so unconcerned about conserving energy. Dubai Electricity and Water Authority does a really good job of taking care of its residents. We don’t have power cuts or water shortage like other places, not even once a year. DEWA is also always handing out pamphlets and information about conserving energy. You know, they even have cash prizes for residents who consume the lowest electricity, lauding their efforts. 

But in spite of all these efforts, the general public[a large percentage] are very indifferent to the depleting resources and continue to use water and electricity lavishly without a care. It's not about the fact that you can afford to pay. Why don’t they understand that conserving energy not only saves money but also protects the environment.

A few things I do to conserve energy....

# Use energy-efficient compact fluorescent lights & turn off lights in all rooms that are not in use[but that doesn’t mean I’m fanatical like the better-half who switches off lights and appliances even if he is away for a nanosecond;-/].

# Keep the AC thermostat on ‘Auto’ instead of ‘ON’. Use pedestal fans to circulate air.

# Did u know there is something called phantom load concept??? It’s about unplugging devices when they are not being used. 

# Use the washing machine in the early hours of the day. And make sure they are fully loaded. I don’t use a dryer and prefer to dry my clothes in the sun.

# Try to cook more than one item if I’m using the oven.

# Use as much natural daylight as possible.

What else can you think of????

Nikita made this poster for a science activity in school last year. I wanted to take a picture of Nikita holding the poster[ before it went to school and never came back but guess who came running to pose when I called:-).