Chillin' on the roof

I don't really spend much time on our roof. Except for my birthday party earlier this month, I don't think I've spent more than ten minutes up there at a time - and thats usually to say hello to someone up there, or to collect Ishaan and bring him home. There's not really any reason why I don't go up there much... probably cuz we have quite a large balcony attached to our apartment so I just hang out there if I want to go outside, and also because our rooftop is full or dusty dirty corners and isn't really looked after.

But Mandakini's roof is a whole different story. Her and her mama have beautiful plants and flowers and trees up in their rooftop, its painted a clean white and has hardly and dusty corners with sand and dirt accumulated. Yesterday, in light of the fact that Yoginee is leaving us today, her and I (and Ishaan) joined Manda on her roof for a relaxed afternoon with chilled nimbu-pani, delicious cookies, a few pillows, a blanket, a camera and some henna...

Ishaan's sports day

Highlight of the day - he came SECOND in the sprint race in his group. Other than that... a pretty fun and exciting day had by all! Lemon and spoon races, potato (ball) races, beanbag races.. Ishaan loved it all!

Ishaan leading his group and his teacher to the first race.
(with his bag of lemons)

The boys waiting their turn

The girls lining up for their first race.

The rules of the lemon and spoon race are being explained
(and no one seems to be listening!)

Ready boys!?

GO!! Try not to drop your lemon!

No holding it in place Ishaan, thats cheating!

Oops, dropped it!

The lemons were dropped at least a dozen times!

Next race - balancing beanbags on their heads.

Go!! No touching the beanbags!

Its slipping, its slipping!!

On the way back, trying not to touch it!

The "potato" game - collecting the potatoes (plastic balls) in a bucket

and racing back to the start

Balls collected, running one way with the bucket full.

And back to the start WOOHOO!

More racing - with sunglasses this time!

And back again...

Getting ready for sprint race

RUN ISHAAN RUN!!!

Showing off his yellow ribbon for second place in the sprint race.

So proud.

Certificate AND 2nd place ribbon.

Kung Fu

Yesterday we went to my brothers school to see him and his school friends do a kung fu display. It was very short - about 20-30 minutes - but it was very entertaining to watch, and awesome to see my brother out there getting into it. They showed mock fights, hitting, punching, breaking tiles and even a performance with sticks. I was very impressed.

Jaya's easy to spot - he's the one with the shortest pants on!

Punching - Jaya is the 4th boy in from the left.

The audience seats (fairly empty - this was after the show)

photos by Madhurangi

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to everyone and all... family in Christchurch, in Auckland, New Plymouth, Queenstown, Hamilton... in Australia and New York and India. To friends, best friends, Dinos, neighbours, co-workers, kids and babies. Merry merry Christmas to you all and I hope your day is filled with lots of laughter and smiles.

Now all that mushy stuff is done, here's what we did for Christmas...

Christmas isn't really celebrated here in India. Its on the Bengali calendar and people know about it - they even sell tacky (and I mean REALLY tacky) Christmas trees and tinsel down at the market in Navadwipa... but in general its not really a big thing here and its up to you to celebrate in your own home.

Ishaan and I made snowflakes from white paper and hung them from the ceiling. I thought it fitting considering this year is one of the few times I've been in the winter season for Christmas. I cooked spaghetti with tomato sauce and kofta balls, and peas and potatoes and carrots.. plus Dylan made lemonade and Mandakini made salad and we all sat down for a hearty lunch, just me, Ishaan, Dylan, Mandakini and Veronica. It was fun, informal, delicious and basically just a fabulous time.

Each of us bought a small present, and sat them under the tiny 2" Christmas tree that I had bought from the local market for Rs10. We each pulled a name from a bag, and whosever name you got, you gave your present to that person. It was lots of fun to open up the presents and wish each other Merry Christmas with hugs and smiles.

Ishaan's snuggled up in bed waiting for me to join him so we can end the night watching Elf. I better go..... ...

photos to come

Ishaan and Chandra

Best friends.

Chandra came to our house to play this afternoon and they boys had so much fun, they get along together so well. They helped me peel potatoes and cut cauliflowers for lunch, they (me) build a fort and they read books underneath and ate french fries, they climbed over the bars that are above the windows on our balcony and basically had an awesome time.

Happy birthday lil' bro!

Tomorrow my brother turns 15. Him and I weren't always that close - he was 8 when I moved out of home, and then after I got married him and I were even more distant. I guess we couldn't really relate to each other because there is such a big age gap between us. Don't get me wrong though, I love him to bits of course.

Anyways the last year here has been awesome and him and I have grown a lot closer. Its kinda strange cuz I don't see him every day cuz he's at the boarding school here. We visit every Sunday of course, and I may get to see him at the temple on the odd occasion... share a pizza in the lobby of the lotus building or chat out in the courtyard. Anyone who knows my brother though, knows that he is a man of few words, and when in a conversation with him, he's not the one doing the talking.

He's pretty easy to read though, with his smiles and lit up eyes. Tonight we went down to the school to visit him, armed with delicious pizza, hot chocolate, a big cake and a tub of buttery corn. We sat in the grass outside his school and had a little birthday picnic, complete with a little bonfire (made by Jaya himself) and loudly singing happy birthday for all to hear. Both my dad and sister called from NZ and NYC respectively, and judging by the wide grin on my brothers face, he was super happy with his birthday celebrations.

His face when we sung Happy Birthday to him

Eating hot buttered corn

Mama made pizza.

Big grin on his face cuz he was on the phone to his other sister