Mother's misery, grandmother's joy

It was my decision to go off Sri Lanka leaving our little one with her Ammamma (my mum).  I still don’t know what made me take this decision. As it turned out I was almost on the verge of a nervous breakdown staying away from Smera for 6 days.

My mum is almost fanatical about her granddaughter – who also happens to be the first one in my family. It is the first time she is experiencing the joy of being a grandmum and she absolutely loves it.  And this is just reason why I wanted to leave Smera with her, so they could spend uninterrupted 6 days of pure happiness.

I planned out everything – flights, hotels, rent-a-car, and places to visit except for one thing – my misery. A complete oversight, I just didn’t realise how much I would miss her, so much that I almost annoyed my mother with my constant phone calls. Smera has been deeply wired into my system and even a few hours of separation makes me go crazy.

So first task upon arrival was to get a mobile connection and make that first call to check on my munchkin. Just as expected the child was cheerful, not at all stressed about her missing mother. Should this make me happy or sad I wondered? I was undoubtedly pleased to see how emotionally independent the little one is.

Mum and Smera spent the next couple of days in Trivandrum and then went off to Kumarakon to savor their remaining days together. The duo went fishing, boating, swimming and gorging on scrumptious Karimeen Polichattu among other things.

While they were having a good time, I was constantly on the phone eager to know what is going on. 100 minute free talk time from Mobitel seemed like a good deal when we bought it from the Colombo airport, but by the next morning it had all but turned to a negative balance.

I could sense that my mom was getting tired of taking my calls. It was after that I retorted resorted to a tactic that can only be described as beyond silly – I coaxed my husband to call mom and put on the speaker phone hoping to catch Smera’s voice in the background. Call me a desperate mummy.

Amid the self-inflicted psychological torture, I managed to do a bit of sightseeing, a lot of tea gardens and a great deal of shopping.  We had to buy another bag to fit it all in even after expanding the big suitcase that we carried on our way in. I really went berserk shopping clothes for our toddler. 

The last day of the trip had to be the longest – airport delays, weather, even the traffic police seemed to be scheming against me – how else would you explain a 2 hour delay to a normal 45 minute drive.

It was about Smera’s sleep time when we reached home. Taking her in my arms from my mom, I realised that that had to be one of the most priceless moments for me in a long-long time.

Photo credit: 123rf.com 

Sensing a “wave” of change

After my chopper fiasco, I am thinking of settling of scores with husband. In case you are wondering what I am talking about, then you must read my previous post. I have been plotting and scheming the last month (on my vacation!!) and have finally landed with a brilliant idea. 

A new microwave, yes that is what is going please my soul! Alright maybe I sound a bit too melodramatic, but that’s what’s going to get me a new microwave. My husband bought our existing microwave 6 years ago at a sale. There is no major problem with it apart from the fact that it gives little zings when you touch it when it is not in a good mood. It’s just that I don’t like the look of it!

This alone was not a good reason for him to change; he would say “I will fix it for you”. However those promises were also never met. 

My cunning plan is borrowed from a hilarious book with dangerously silly stunts explained for beginners like myself. The book explains how to blow up a microwave among other things.  All I need to do is keep an unopened can of beans and turn it on for 5 mins. The book promises that this would surely blow off the entire microwave.

As I write this post I am also very hopeful that I would not have to take such a drastic step. I am sure this hint would prove very helpful.

Then there are a couple of more things that I would love change in the house but for now I will be contented with a brand new microwave.

Note to hubby – I have found a new place where could sell that silly microwave and still get some money to buy peanuts! Check it out:  http://www.cashconverters.ae/index.php/about-us

Photo credits: corbis.com

As a tourist in my home-town

The little one was chuffed right from the time she saw the bags out. She knew in her heart we were going to do something really exciting. We were going back to Vadakencherry (hubby’s home) and she was going to meet her paternal grandparents after a 6 months long interval. 

Smera had been undergoing a week-long rigorous training to learn saying Ammachi (Grand Mother) and Appachha (Grand Dad). But that ended up as Ammeis and Appais. While saying Ammu and Chinnu (Smera’s cousins) was a piece of cake for her.

Smera loves going back to India. Vadakencherry or Delhi she just loves to be with her grandparents. She has met Ammeis Appais only a couple of times this year but when they re-unite it just feels like yesterday. This vacation was even more special with Ammu and Chinnu at home.

Day 1 was overwhelming for Smera feeling wary of her elder sisters’ affection towards us. Observant child turns then herself into a human magnet in my arms. Bursting with emotions of jealousy, anger and insecurity little Smera also wanted to play with her sisters. Things got better between as days passed and Smera felt more comfortable. For the first time she spent some quality time sisters and sometimes it became really difficult for her to keep enthusiasm within limits.

After a lot of wheedling and buttering-up I managed to get Appais to take time off to come down to Trivandrum. The grandparents, parents and the three kids then catch a midnight train that was part of my pre-planned break. Travelling in a train was a first time for all the three kids. The euphoric Smera had to be eventually reprimanded to lower her decibel levels.

We arranged for my mum too joined us at Trivandrum. This time we wanted to do what tourists would do in Kerala, headed straight to Kovalam and unloaded ourselves at the Taj Vivanta. Spent the next few days gorging on gourmet food, splashing into the pool, early jogs on the beach, boat rides on the backwaters, watching kalaripayattu, to making chocolates at hotel– we had an exceptional time.

Boat ride on the backwaters

To be honest we have never ever done the touristy things back home in Kerala and this was a first time for all us including our parents.

Jogging track next to the Kovalam beach

I never knew of this beautiful place called Pomudi which is about 60 kms from Trivandrum city. If you were off to Ponmudi you would typically take your first stop at the Meenmutty falls. The forest department would assist you with a guide, to take you on a 2 km trek through the dense forests to reach the falls. I reached the falls with great difficulty, I have to admit trekking is not something I really enjoy but the falls were spectacular. While my father-in-law aged 68 and my mum carrying Smera managed to trek with great ease than me and my athletic husband.

Meenmutty Falls

After the falls we drove though the narrow winding road on the way to Ponmudi, a scenic green hill-station with pleasant weather year-round. If you have motion sickness then you might want to skip this part by taking a nap, as there are 22 hairpin curves on the way.

Ponmudi

And to finish off our stay at Taj we decided to get our parents a little surprise - the must-try ayurvedic spa treatment at the Jiva Spa. My mother-in-law though got a little shock as she signed of the bill but it was definitely all worth it, while my father-in-law slept off half-way through the massage.

Few days break came to end with grand-parents and nieces taking the train back to Vadakencherry, while I and my husband quietly escaped to Sri-Lanka depositing our angel with my mum.

More on that in my next post.

Cheers!

Missed birthday in a really long break

Wouldn't it be nice if had a better explanation to stay away from blogosphere, other than just being lazy. When I started writing, now just over a year, I had big plans for my first blog anniversary. Well that moment came and passed by without my lazy soul knowing. 

Belated happy birthday Sangrywords!

I feel a blog that goes without a new post for long is like cheese cracker with out cheese. This will be a good time to confess that I love cheese and crackers. Now that is really cheesy!

I was away for my well-deserved holiday back home. And I had every intention of blogging as soon as my soul settled down. Sadly that didn’t happen for me, in fact our family reunion got bigger and crazier than I had thought-out.

Here is my vacation summary:

Dubai-Cochin-Vadakencherry-Trivandrum-Colombo-Nuvra Eliya-Kandy-Colombo-Cochin-Vadakencherry-Dubai.

Planning a revenge

Overnight train journey

Boat rides in the god’s own country

Exploring NH-47 in our Innova

More on them real soon!

Cheers,

Sangrywords

image courtesy: google.com