Ooty The Beauty

I am not sure why we set aside this destination when it came to planning a holiday. Goa being our preferred target, we constantly headed there when we looked-for a break. I presume Bangalore’s increasing mercury level ought to have stimulated us to set off to some place cool. To begin with, we made a few enquiries about the place and the response was negative as many of ‘em said that ooty has lost its charm. But since it has been our first time to ooty, I was delighted to see the mountain range filled with eucalyptus trees and tea plantations covered in mist. Not to mention our way to Ooty which is incredibly scenic. We took the Bangalore –Mysore- Masinagudi route and passed through the bandipur forest where we saw couple of elephants, deer and monkeys on the way. Sadly or luckily we didn’t cross our paths with a tiger since most of the forest route indicated tiger reserves. Our stay at Holiday Inn in Ooty has been very comforting. The location of the hotel is key since we were lucky to get the valley view from our bedside window, which was spectacular. The food and service was also first-class. Our intention was to relax and take a tour around the local attractions at our pace. To begin with we went for a boat ride in the late evening and it was fun. The next day we visited the tea factory and botanical garden. As our booking at holiday inn was only for 2 nights, we were reluctant to return the following day. So we extended our stay and settled in Monarch (Mithun Chackraborthy’s hotel.) for another day.The executive suite was good but food was a disaster. My taps opened the next day and we decided to return to Bangalore. I popped in some meds on our way back and the journey was uncomfortable because of my physical condition. Except for my return trip, our expedition to Ooty was absolutely fabulous.

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Fear of swimming

Summer is here and the swimming pool is filled with children and adults. It’s exciting as most of them come around to chat in the pool while others swim to shape up. When Adi was 4 year old, I had enrolled him for swimming classes. It was a bad decision as he began to develop a fear of drowning when he was thrown into the pool. After that he never dared to enter the pool until recently. He is 6 year old now and all set to savor water again. The core factor that led him to this decision was his lack of company to play in the play area since all his friends were busy enjoying the pool. At the outset he just watched them swim. Next he put his legs into the pool and felt the water. The following day he had joined the rest. It took him barely a week to discover the art of swimming and now he is on his way to stand out. Today when I went down to pick him back, I watched him doing somersaults inside the pool and I was pleasantly amazed. Now I presume that it will be hard to stop him just as it was hard to start off.
Now let me come the spicy part of the matter. A small number of of us ladies who don’t know to swim decided to give it a shot. Initially, most of us were not comfortable in our swimsuits. So we chose late evening to pursue our interest. 6 of us got into the pool and that was when we knew what adi must have felt like when he was 4 year old. The fear sank in but hey am not ready to give up yet.

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Just as I was thinking that we may have to spend another lazy Sunday at home, my sis calls me up at 8 A.M and says “hey lets go to wonder la”. It is an amusement park located on the Bangalore-Mysore highway and it takes an hour from our home by car to get there with clear traffic. Excitement was mounting up and I was contemplating if it would be sensible to take atul along. Finally after much thinking, we decided to leave atul in my mom’s place. It was our first long distance outing after a long gap and a much welcome change. I quickly packed atul’s things, got his bottles prepared and all of us got dressed in less than an hour and we were out by 9 a.m. We dropped atul at my mums and hit the road. It was a pleasurable drive to worder la and as we were approaching the place, the monkeys inside us were getting edgy. My son started the wonder la tune as he kept jumping inside the car. It’s a beatutiful place with the right blend of greenery and contemporary look. As we got into the park, we were taken aback seeing the vast crowd. There was a long queue in front of the counter. But thankfully they were moving fast. We got our tickets and entered in and then our adventure began. First we decided to try out a ride called aaaaaaaaaahh…True to its name we were AAAAaaaaa….ayiooooh ….after the ride and I decide to abandon the rest of the rides. But after much coaxing , my hub convinced me for the ride which was called the crazy wagon . True to its name it swung us high up in the air in a pendulum motion and I felt like my organs were almost making its way outta my mouth .Finally I screamed my way out of that place. By now our stomach was beckoning us for a refill and we decided to have lunch. My sis and family had not yet arrived , so we could afford a leisure lunch and they could catch up with us. The restaurants in the park looked promising by look but unfortunately not many appealing things on the menu. When we were almost done, we saw our sis family approaching us and now the real fun was about to initiate. My sis has two sons, a 10 year old and a 3 year old. Together we experimented most of the dry rides and now we were all set for the wet rides, which was the highlight of the park. We started off with the wonder splash where the train went chuk chuk uphill and crudely came crashing down into a pool of water . That got us suitably dressed for the pool . We all dived into the pool and pretended to swim with the tube on. Then we hit the dance floor called the rain dance where artificial rains are generated with the music on. We rocked it!! Next on the agenda were the thrilling, heart clenching, dangerous slides down to a pool of water. Three of them and I dared try all. It was AWESOME. We din’t know how time flied and it was late evening by the time we covered atleast half the area . Time to get back home and tired as we were, it was a quiet ride back . We picked Atul and went back home to hit the bed only to dream of when our next visit would be.

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The dog is biting me!!!!!

Yesterday one of my friends came home to invite us for her daughter’s second birthday. As soon as her daughter entered our home, she spotted a toy dog and right away said, ” the dog is bitiiing me” with a fearful look on her face. I picked her up and told her that it has been quiet a while since I saw her followed by the following questions
Me=How are you?
Sirisha=The dog is biting me.
Me=Does it pain?
Sirisha=The dog is biting me.
I saw a doll close to the dog
Me=Will the dog bite the doll?
Sirisha= The dog is biting me.
By now her mom was losing patience and wanted to change the topic.
Mom= where is dada?
Sirisha=Gone, the dog is biting the doll.
I wanted to aid her mom
Me=where is grandpa?
Sirisha=In the room, the dog is biting me.
Finally I put the dog away in the closet
Me=The dog is gone so now you can relax.
Sirisha =(looking at her mom), now lets go home!!!!

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The Track

Everyday I get up with a hope that some miracle may take place and Atul’s seizures may end. But when I see him do it again, I get that sinking feeling in my heart. After each episode, I see him snap out of it and smile –that million dollar smile. Today has been one of those days and I have kept this track handy for me to keep going.

YOU MAKE ME BRAVE
There’s a place
A place that I go
Where I curl in a ball on the floor
And no one can know
And the fear
Wells up inside
I’m just falling again
Feel I’m falling again
And you make me brave
Then you make me brave
When the dark
And all of the doubt
Crowds in around me
And blocks the world out
And then I
I see you smile
And I’m flying again
Yes I’m flying again
‘Cos you make me brave
Yes, you make me brave
What’s to come?
No one can know
But I fear for the future
And what it may hold
Take my hand
Take it today
Let’s not live in the past
Let’s not hide in the past
Today, today
Live for today
Live for today

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Proud Mother - ME

I am certain most of you would chuckle thinking about convocation for Upper Kindergarten students “Imagine the little ones in black gowns with the funny black hat”.
Actually they looked cute.Well! It was Aditya’s convocation few days back and he has absolutely made me proud by narrating the long speech about his three-year experience in school, which I never considered he could. We were invited to watch the event and I was eagerly waiting for the day. It was a beautiful evening and the school premises were decked formally for the event. Lots of parents were already seated when we arrived and I was wishing that my little one Atul would co-operate throughout the event, and luckily he did. I had spent the afternoon worrying about how Adi would perform. The chief guest arrived on time for a change and the event commenced. First was a welcome song during which the kids holding torches paraded to the center stage where plenty chairs were arranged for the kids to be seated. As soon as the 200 kids settled down in their respective chairs the teacher was prepared to call the 5 kids geared up to deliver speech which included my son. These kids were standing near a corner and my heart missed a beat when Adi’s name was called first. I saw my little boy walk boldly to the center stage . I thought he would be nervous but he appeared cool and he patiently waited for the mike to be installed. It was painfully calm for a while. Then he began. THREE minutes non-stop was like eternity to me and his voice was clear and crisp. My little darling had delivered his speech in the most charismatic manner ever. I guess this would be he most unforgettable moment in my life.

For those who want to see what I mean, check out Adi’s speech.

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