A parting gift so perfect for me. I love the little silver bowl my friends gave me when I left Chennai. It's the right size to float little treasures I bring back from my morning walk. I think of all of them when I see this and feel blessed to have found great friends like them.

Unpacking

Overwhelmed by the number of boxes and things scattered around the house, I sat down for a coffee.  I pride myself on living a clutter free life, but still this seems like an awful lot. We still don't have a TV, bed, sofa, TV table, coffee table and a bunch of other furniture, yet the house seems full. Maybe it is something to do with how small the house is. Once I find a home for everything maybe it will feel roomy and open. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

I finished organizing the tiny kitchen and was pleased to note a few empty shelves. I intend to keep it that way. I hate shelves crammed with things. I arranged everything within easy reach, keeping in mind my height. I don't want to be spending more time than absolutely necessary in the kitchen. I also arranged our crockery in our 50 or 60-year-old cupboard and that for some reason made me very happy. Our eclectic collection of ceramics cups and dishes apparently makes me smile.

The thought of going back to the boxes makes me weep. The baby seems a bit cranky today, maybe it is a sign that we both should take a nap and let the boxes remain for a while!

June 12

It is late. I'm tired and almost dropping off to sleep. I had a full and happy day celebrating with the two most special people in my life. Did a lot of mundane stuff for the apartment. I didn't mind because I knew there would be ice cream for dinner.

home

They delivered our stuff to our new apartment today. I cannot describe the joy on her face when she saw her toys and books. It felt good to be surrounded by familiar things. Yes, it's going to be fun turning this house into our home.

Lazy mornings

It's a lazy morning. The gentle rain outside adds to the mood. Breakfast is eggs, raisins, an apple and bits of cheese. Milk for her, coffee for me. We are still in our pyjamas relaxing. I feel guilty about the laziness. It stays only for a moment because I remind myself to enjoy this while it lasts. In a month or two, I know, moments like this will be hard to come by and I'll be left longing for lazy mornings just like this.


Later::

The rain stops, the sun hides behind a blanket of clouds urging us to step outside and enjoy the glorious weather. We climb the steep steps behind the bus stop and find ourselves in a lush field glistening with raindrops. Then just like that, we find butterflies. Lots of them. I'm happy. She is too, content for a while running around the place, showing me flowers, plants, and bugs. She lets me know when it is time to go and so we walk back hand in hand.

A little girl missing her dad

Her evening routine is to stand on a table below the big wide window and look for her baba returning home from work. She can see a little patch of road through the trees nine storeys below and gets excited when she sees someone walk by or when she spots a red bus. I enjoy the routine as much as she does.

Her dad's away on a short work related trip and while she didn't show any signs yesterday (first day of his being away) of missing him, the first thing she did this morning after she was up was to climb up on that bench and look for baba. I quickly distracted her with her breakfast and told her baba is in office. "Oh baba office" she repeated and nodded as if she understood.

I wanted to capture this moment for him and torture him a little, hence this post. I know he’s missing her too.

She's back on her perch looking for baba as I type this and simultaneously is on a pretend phone call with Kushi, her friend, in India.

Sigh, I have a long day ahead.

Kapi

Trying to ward off a case of homesickness with a hot cup of filter coffee.

Mall Rats

Rainy Morning

Traditional Cake Moulds

Mangoes

Before I left Chennai, I wanted to enjoy more than my share of mangoes because I didn’t know when my next summer in India would be. I was disappointed at not finding good ones. Every shopkeeper just said the crop has not been very good this year. Is this true? Are they available now at least? What about other cities?
Fast forward to Singapore. They are all here! Boxes and boxes of alphonso, kesar, himapasand, sindhri (a new-to-me mango, not to be confused with sindhura) and beganapalli just to name a few. I can’t make up my mind to be happy or sad, so I’ll just stick to eating them. I will be thrilled though when mallika and langda makes an entrance here.

Pizza Story

This is leftover pizza, which has been languishing in our fridge for the past two days. Why is this big deal? Because pizzas are never leftover in our house. We fight for the crumbs even.

We ordered them from Pizza Hut and it tasted all wrong to us. There was no weird taste or smell, but still the overall experience was different. We ordered two different kinds, one vegetarian and one non-vegetarian, and we didn't care for both. I'm sure their menu is tweaked to cater to the local tastes, just like how it is in India, but still it was a big disappointment.

Why did I not throw it out the same day? I don’t know. While I don’t like to throw food in the garbage, it somehow feels easier to throw stale food from the fridge into the trash than throwing something fresh. That way for some strange reason, I feel less guilty!