Summer Holidays 2012- Mumbai

Summer Holidays 2012- Mumbai

Jayanti’s school closed on 14^th of April 2012 and it was time once again to travel. We spent some time with daughter dear in Mumbai, soaking in the heat of the city and the hurried, harried life it offers. It was great being with the grand children – once inside the house it was all fun and frolic. The twins have grown up and now attend a ‘mother -toddler’ program and enjoy getting ready and carrying their satchels to school. Ayaan is growing up fast and keeps himself busy attending football practice, music classes and karate – in addition to school.

It was ten days of great fun with daughter, S in L and the grand children. In spite of the heat, I took the children to the park and bonded. At home I busied myself in the kitchen cooking dosa, idly, upma and the rest to satisfy Akhila’s craving for South Indian food. As usual, there were a number of visits to various specialty restaurants along with my S in L, who is a foodie – Sea food, Italian, Chinese et al. We also went and watched The Sound of Music, a play produced by Rael Padamsee.

It was very heartening to see Akhila’s household retuning to normalcy – meaning the twins have finally settled down. They are almost two now and their routine is in place. After a hectic day they retire exactly at 7pm and sleep through the night – which is a great relief for their mother. They have regular meal timings and eat whatever is on the table with no fuss, play a lot and spend considerable time with each other. They have learnt to walk and run about, blabber endlessly repeating whatever the elders say – all things considered, they are great company and therapeutic for the grandparents.

Akhila has all the help she requires to raise her three boys – notwithstanding the assistance; it is certainly a very challenging and demanding task to look after three children – especially boys. She has tons of patience and secretly enjoys motherhood. I give her full marks. Well done, Akki!

Figure 1 – Hai Ghoda with grandfather

Figure 2 - Story telling session with GM

Figure 3 - Ayaan with grandmother

Akhila celebrated Ayaan’s 5^th birthday in a very novel manner. She hired a BEST open top ‘touristy’ bus decorated with balloons, to take Ayaan’s friends for a small chakkar around Bandra. The kids had a rollicking time, shouting, screaming, singing songs and making merry.

Figure 4 - BEST bus

A balloonwala made different shapes and figures with the balloon and was a hot favorite with the kids.

  

Figure 5 - Balloonwala at his job

On the bus there were a number of interesting games to keep the children occupied with Akhila as the game master.

Figure 6 –Akhila Taking Charge

After spending two hours on the bus, the restless children returned to a ‘Pizza Restaurant’ for a sumptuous pizza treat and the cake cutting ceremony.

Figure 7 - Proud parents with Ayaan

Vivacious Nargis Fakhri of ‘Rock Star’ fame who attended the birthday party and came along for the bus ride  was the centre of attention with the children. Her spontaneous rapport with the children and her friendly demeanor ,made her an instant hit with the children. 

Figure 8 - Nargis with a Balloon Helmet