Nuances

“Sunshine daisies butter mellow Turn this car seat into a pillow” How I wish I could twirl a magic wand and make these words come true? Wondering why??? Well you see, dad and mum took me on this incredibly long journey to Scotland and most of the time I was in the car I was either sleeping or listening to my mum and cousins singing nursery rhymes. If I could only turn my car seat into a pillow I could have slept better. Anyway let me share a few titbits of this trip. I've always heard mum raving about their annual trip to Scotland and how they missed it last year as I was a wee baby (hey look I have picked up a few Scottish words). So I was really curious to find out what makes Scotland such a great place to visit. We started the first leg of our journey from Petey town to Edinburgh by train. Now, it was not as simple as it sounds. As we took a taxi from our house to the train station in the confusion of stuffing in 3 adults, 3 children 2 car seats, a pram and a myriad of...

Hi folks!!! It’s Junior Solitary Reaper here again. It has been a long time since I shared all the giant thoughts in my tiny brain. I have been very busy over the last few months. Appa and amma took me on my first ever road trip to York. We were accompanied by Tata, Pati and uncle Pat. It was uncle Pat’s first visit to the UK and I got a feeling that he had a good time indeed. I was a bit shy the first few days and I did not let him carry me. But after being constantly driven in a car for three days with him, I got very comfy with my dear uncle Pat. He is very good at baby talk and kept calling me “Paapa”! On the road trip I got to experience sun, rain, sand, waves and a lot of greenery. I was lucky to be nestled between Pati and Tata in the car as they kept me very busy and did not let me get bored. Nevertheless I did cry sometimes as the journey was getting very quiet with everybody around me dozing every now and then. So, amma kept singing nursery rhymes to calm me down. I used...

Hello everybody. Amma tells me that many of you who read my first blog really liked it and sent your compliments to amma. A big thank you for all your comments. They have inspired me to write once again about my exciting day to day activities. In a week's time I will be 9 months old. I will be entering into the last quarter of my first year. Ooh time just flies; I better buck up and present an impressive first year activity report card. Hmmm, so what's new in my life now? NURSERYYYYYY! It had been 3 weeks since I started attending the nursery. I go 3 days a week to the nursery and spend about two and a half hours every session. Do I like it there? Of course I do. I love the garden with so many outdoor toys. Once I get there I have so many distractions that I don't even see amma waving me goodbye and telling me that she will be back soon. I ride on Sherry's hips as I still cannot walk on my own. There was a bubble machine installed there the other day and I loved play...

Hey there..... you have all heard enough from me. It is now time for my son to start writing. So put your hands together for the junior solitary reaper. Hello everybody. I am the junior solitary reaper. How about I describe the important day to day activities of a 7 month old i.e, me? You see, not many people know how action packed our lives can be! So let me start from the time I wake up which is usually about 6 in the morning. I make sure amma knows that I am awake by giving her a wake up call. By the time I roll over a couple of times in my bed and wish a very good morning to all my toys I have a heavy smelly diaper. Lucky for me amma has a sharp sense of smell. She quickly changes my nappy and ah what a feeling it is to get into a fresh new one. She then takes me to appa's room where I play with him in the bed for some time. I then enjoy a fresh sip of milk which generally makes me doze off... zzzzz..... By the time I wake up which is about 20 minutes later, lo behold, amma...

What can one do if the sky opens up and decides to shower you with nothing but rain for weeks together? This was our situation going into the semi-finals of the Champions trophy in Cardiff. Having booked the tickets 3 months in advance without an inkling of who would play and having driven to Cardiff for 4 hours after work, we had everything to lose due to the famous English weather (definitely pun intended). We slept really well and woke up fresh to be welcomed by bleak weather as usual on the day of the cricket match. By the time we got through a really heavy breakfast, it had stopped raining. Hmm, do we feel happy? Naah , not yet. After all this the English weather  we are talking about.  Well, armed with a good old traditional paper map, we trudged all the way to the stadium which I must agree was one of the best experiences I have ever had. Walking through the myriad streets of Cardiff, we were not even bothered that we walked more than we should have had to reach the s...

Tata, a man who lead a highly disciplined life, a human with immeasurable patience, a leading example to all his family members, an earnest student whose quest for knowledge and information assimilation did not die down until his last minute. By this time, any reader would have understood that this great man is no more with us. Especially, my grandfather, is no more with us. It has taken me quite some time to come to terms with this fact and put down my fond memories into words. Where shall I start? From the early days of inculcating his discipline in me or the innumerable hours that he patiently spent with me during my childhood or all those times that we spent together watching sports on the tele? I am sure the list will be endless. I still vividly remember the routine he had set up for me as soon as I started going to school. The study table and two sharpened pencils used to welcome me as soon as I used to come home in the afternoon from school. These of course was in prepara...

Lake District I am writing this blog at the risk of turning people off! Surprised??? This is the next edition of my travelogue and this time our car made way towards Lake District. As this region is to the south of Scotland it is a general perception that the landscape is like that of Scotland. This brings me back to the first line of my blog. As I have already written about our journey to Scotland, my faithful readers might quit reading this blog assuming it to be very similar to the previous one. I couldn't me more wrong than that!!! Rather than the actual journey it is the planning that gets me pumping. Things were simplified by the fact that we planned to find accommodation in one place and travel to the rest. Easier said than done! It seemed as though every traveller in the world was heading to the Lake District and unless you were looking to lodge yourself in a manor rather than a B&B you were out of luck. But, we were destined to be lucky and found a cosy ale...