A Pesky and Pampered Traveller

I love to travel when conditions are favorable. I mean I am a little pampered and sensitive, but still, I love to travel when I don’t have to bear physical stress. Mostly I have found people around me who are caring. Yes, whenever I travel, the person next to me is always caring towards me. Good things happen to good people I suppose.

Travel with Mom:

I always sat next to mom while travelling. I always had a shoulder to lean on, ask for stuff I wanted, etc. Thanks to my height, I could even lie down on the bus seat with my legs folded, when I put my head on her lap.

Travel with Kanchan:

At one time, I had to travel with Kanchan to our friend’s wedding. It was a sudden fix, and we had to rush almost in the middle of the night to Sangamner, Akola, about 14 hours journey by some jeep. We couldn’t miss it. Luckily Kanchan sat next to me. But there was a catch. I love to sit silent looking out of the window. And she can be uncontrollably talkative. A simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’ is not an answer for her. You have to answer in detail. Yes, she gave me the window seat all the way to and fro! See, I don’t forget a good deed. Oh, I digress. We enjoyed the wedding, and for me the travel was bearable thanks to her. I also remember that we had taken only a single set of our ‘new dresses’ for the wedding and saw that the whole crowd changed clothes every couple of hours! We were embarrassed but couldn’t do anything.

Travel with college friends:

This is going to be nostalgic. I remember the college Alibag trip that my group had set up. I didn’t want to go and jumped in at the idea at the last moment when my friends sent someone’s dad to pick me up! Again I just got up from bed and went off. Kanchan, Nivedita, Seema and all our friends…we enjoyed a lot. Yes, I had to talk and answer questions in detail.

Travel with Kanchan's friend:

 I even recollect one occasion when I had to go to Andheri for an interview for MBA summers, and Kanchan’s classmate ‘R’ was travelling with me. She had told him to take care of me! And R made sure I got the window, and helped me with the luggage, etc. R told me that he was asked to do it!

 Travel with Asmita:

There was once when me and my younger sister – Asmita went for a Harihareshwar, Shrivardhan trip with dad’s friend from office. He was taking his tuition class students on a group trip. We joined. This time Asmita gave me the window seat at least for a major length of time. She acted the older sister part and I could sleep on her lap. The trip lasted for 2 nights and 3 days. We both couldn’t gel up in the group and we missed mom so much. We called up mom and talked at lengths. Dads friend tried to include us in the group but it didn’t help much. Asmita and me talked about all the students and how they behaved.

At Harihareshwar, we couldn’t find any hotel room to sleep – I suppose all were booked. It was dead cold winter and we were shivering. We got shelter at a person’s backyard. Some students made amazing dinner outside and we ate. Asmita and me found a cows shed, filled with hay, cowdung, and of course cows and bullocks. We got in a corner and made some place to sit. I laid my head on her lap for some time. It was warm and cozy and we slept in no time. After sometime, we both got up with a tap on our shoulders. Sir had come to wake us up. We saw that the cow’s mouth was so close to us, eating the hay from near us. It was amazing. Sir said to me that Asmita seems to be your elder sister since she is so caring!

Travel with Yogesh: 

And after that naturally it was Yogesh. Right from our honeymoon trip in Kerala, where I could lean on his shoulder and sleep for hours in the bus, to sleeping on the platform with my head in his lap while waiting for the train, Yogesh has always been there. I have always enjoyed the window seat when I am with him, plus he is extremely caring and concerned when it comes to food we eat while traveling.

I have had migraines on many of our trips and he makes sure I enjoy even then. I remember clicking many photos on or Kerala trip. We had made the bus stop at many scenic places to do just that. Other couples in the bus were sort of irritated by this but we couldn’t let go of it. One such place was the tea gardens at Munnar. Everyone was reluctant to get down from the bus but eventually everyone did, and those photos are still the most memorable!

Travel with Arya:

Today situation is a little different. I travel with my baby and I have to be the caring person for him. In our Konkan trip, he slept on my lap for hours on end, numbing my legs. He stood near the window and shouted out. I had to hold him all the way. I feed him in the moving bus and made sure he was comfortable. Yogesh still looks out for me. But I’m the one for Arya. It has made me more thankful for the caring I get these days.

Birthday jitters

Preparations for Arya’s first b’day are in swing, even between the arguments that me and Yogesh have.

The caterer is booked, the venue is booked, invites have been sent, and calls to people have been made. Mandap booking would happen this week. Decorator will meet us this week too. We have got some decoration items for his b’day at home. Cake is to be booked though. Searching for good soft music CD’s to be played during the event. Also thinking of return gift options and birthday caps for kids.

We both love to do this for him. I hope everything goes off well.

Arya and the disappearing curtains

The latest big story in our house is our curtains.

Couple of days back, I was feeding Arya in the kitchen, while talking to his nanny. Suddenly we heard a small crash and saw that the curtain rods in front of our terrace had fallen down, bringing all the curtains down. (Well, my aunt sat on the curtains! But that is another story.)

I, my aunt, my maid and the nanny began talking about it. We were all calm and someone said that anyway we wanted to wash the curtains, etc. None of us overreacted or acted distressed.

This is when Arya got confused and all animated. It was a big thing for him it seems. He started talking in his language, making quick sentences, telling me with his hand pointed towards the place where the curtain rods were! He also pointed towards my aunt and started talking in a deeper voice and a frown. As if asking her why she did that! We were surprised. He continued the same thing over and over again, gesturing with his hand up in the air, meaning ‘Look what happened!’

We understood that he was upset. So we put away the rods and curtains. But this boy would play around for a few minutes and come back there muttering about the missing curtains. Yes, it was his play spot behind the curtains. And the curtains are beautiful and change the ‘look’ of our living room significantly. Maybe he just knows what-is-where in the house and doesn’t want it to be changed.

And just yesterday we had a security door fitted to our main entrance. It is an iron door – brown in color. Arya liked the men who came for fitting it, and loved the din they were making. He even loved the new door, going to it again and again while playing.

In a way he was telling us that he is familiar with his house and doesn’t want it to change so fast.

He has a mind of his own and doesn’t want to be taken for granted.

TV, Tooth and Arya

Wanted to write so many stories over the days but didn’t get enough time. So here is one now. Of course it is about Arya. Writing about something else will require even more time.

Arya is smarter now. (Yea, I’m writing this for the 100th time). The other day he was standing near the sofa chair that I was sitting on. While playing, he dropped the TV remote on the floor and I told him to give it back. And hey, the little guy carefully sat next to the chair and tried to grab the remote. After three tries, he managed to get it. He looked up and handed the remote to me! He understood me even though he cannot talk a word!

Yea and he does know what to do with the remote when it is in his hand. He holds it up in the direction of the TV and presses several buttons at a time. He also looks up at the TV to confirm if something has happened!

To continue the TV story, my boy now goes to the STB directly and presses many of the buttons on it. Just to remind you, we have already paid few hundred bucks to get a new remote when he had dropped it. STB replacement will cost more. So this one presses buttons on the STB and cranes his neck up, towards the TV, to see if something has changed! Who told him this? I have changed channels only a couple of times from STB when the remote was too far off!

Ok, moving on.

He knows his name is ARYA now. I think he can say it too. It is just not very clear yet and I am not sure if he says ARYA. He pronounces it ‘AA EEE YA’. I would want to believe that he calls his name.

About 3 weeks back my baby has sprouted his first tooth! Yea! Finally I can feel something hard and sharp in his mouth! It is not all the way out yet. It is just a small point. But it is so funny. Sometimes when he remembers his tooth, he tries to chew a small grain of rice with full concentration. His face holds a frown and the sweet and round lower jaw does the work. It is so cute to watch! I’m thinking wow what a logic kids have – food+tooth=chew!