Young tourists

At Auroville in Pondy, our first stop to buy crockery.

In the pool in GRT hotel in Pondy. That was the most memorable part of their four-day vacation.

On the Thanjavur route... nature's call.

At the majestic Big Temple of Thanjavur. Never thought I'd make it. But there are times my husband can surprise me!

A four-day vacation when we saw a part of Tamil Nadu - Pondicherry, the predictable weekend hangout for Chennaites; Kumbakonam, the land of the innumerable temples where we made the faux pas of asking where the temple is; Thanjavur, the land of the Brihadeeswara temple and paddy fields; Velankanni, a Malloo Christian's favourite pilgrim centre; Chidamabaram, the temple town; and Pichavaram for a boating in the mangrove forest. The 800 km my husband drove those four days wasnt tiring - we stopped at a hotel each night.
The first day it was Sunway GRT Grand. The hospitality was awesome, the room was comfortable and pool just enough to keep the kids happy. The complimentary breakfast was fantastic. The kids made friends with a front office executive, Sonal, and also the swimming instructor, and were most reluctant to leave.
The second day, we stopped at Hotel Gnaanam as recommended by a reporter colleague of mine. But being Diwali eve we had a tough time reaching the hotel. All the roads leading to it were blocked as it was on Market Road. So next day we had to beat a quick retreat before the shopaholics arrived. We saw the temple in its early morning glory with the sun lending a golden hue to the yellow granite blocks. The Thanjavur place, which houses the art gallery now, was a disappointment. That a king who took such great care to build a temple did not do the same for his palace was surprising.
We had to change rooms as the first one allotted to us stank of pesticide. The veg breakfast was good.
The second day we stopped at Grand Palace in Chidambaram (as recommended by some online sites) but found it a bit shady and deserted. So we took a room in Sharada Ram which looked like a hostel. The rooms were mediocre and the food even worse. The complimentary breakfast was very limited being Diwali day - the staff were on leave and it looked like it had been bought from outside.
After a wonderful lunch at GRT Pondy's Gardenia, we reached Chennai by 7 pm on Diwali - in time to burst a few crackers.

Fancy dress

Finding a suitable subject for the annual fancy dress competition is often a headache for parents. This year I had two ideas in mind - Peter Pan and boxing champion Mary Kom - for Mira but in the end we had very little time to prepare.
Though it is generally held on Children's Day, Nov. 14, the announcement came a week earlier and I had not found the material for either of my subjects.It had to be done in a hurry since we had already planned an extended weekend vacation in the days preceding the competition. In the end, it was a hotch-potch effort after arriving from our holiday destination.
Mira's class teacher advised her to go for the Peter Pan costume. I found the costumes for the boxer (we already had the boxing gear) as well as Pan. V hunted for a beret to go as PP's cap. Unlike in the West where readymade costumes are available, here Peter Pan is one of the less popular children's heroes. I didnt find the pixie shoes, so we made do with a pair of Bata shoes (and I couldnt be bothered to turn it green).

I gave her the smallest of dialogues to recite, and she had mastered 3 sentences each on Peter Pan and Mary Kom. But it was nothing much - most children parroted long speeches,some adding a song for effect.
In the end, the most common of the fancy dress topics won - an angel. But the girl spoke well and long. So did a girl attired in newspaper bits, fisherman, mobile phone etc. Mira looked crestfallen though she got a complimentary prize for participation. She had spoken well and confidently though the lines were not substantial. This was her last chance, as the competition is only for the KG and Class I and II students. It was a good thing she had the desire the participate.
It was a pity that a child dressed as a bunch of grapes (with balloons around his body making his movement strenuous) didnt win any.
For those looking for fancy dress themes, here are some from today's: child labourer, construction worker (woman), kerala woman, kathakali artist, doctor, teacher, Bharatiar, Swami Vivekananda, jute bag/girl, pastor, John the Baptist, David the Shepherd, peacock etc.
p.s. For someone in the editing line, I found some of the dialogues grammatically incorrect. Many kids used childrens as the plural of child.

Rain fury

It is the calm after the storm. The kids are at home enjoying their rain vacation and little adult games, pretending to be parents and picking and dropping their kids (dolls) from school. As always, Mira is the director of these plays while Ash understands and follows the rules of the game implicitly. Some day, they might become good actors :) And Mira is already beginning to imitate us adults in the house, especially the maid. Which means the maid has realised that she has to be careful around them.
Mira thinks that me and V are a brother-sister pair. We are trying to make her understand we both came from two different houses, and were unknown and unrelated till we got married. So she tells Ash now that they both will get a brother-sister pair from another house to marry.
A trip to a painting exhibition cum sale last week has given Ash ideas. Today he was seen drawing a picture for which he quoted a price of Rs. 15 lakh. When I told him I didnt want anything so expensive, he promptly came up with another that was just Rs. 30!
Mira stood third in the inter-church (from 11 Orthodox churches in Chennai) singing competition for junior girls. She didnt look like she had much chance as her song was too short. While the win has not meant anything to her, it makes me happy that she has the opportunity and desire to participate. The kids' confidence and lack of inhibitions are not things we were used to when growing up.

This post is just a summary of events I could think of.