1. Mommy has always loved 'Japan saris'. Yes, there exists something named as such.
The first time I learnt of the term, was when she first visited me in Astoria, Queens. I took her to Fashion Ave and it was like throwing open a box of cookies to toddlers waiting to go on a sugar rush. Or closer to home, it was like unleashing me in a grocery store!
That trip, Mom ended up buying some for herself and some for other colleagues/ friends who she was convinced would love them.
'Japan saris' are 6-1/2 yards of super light, almost dri-fit kind of printed, flowing material that lend themselves to become 'saris' rather easily, just by virtue of the lightness of their being. They could be polyester, chiffon, silk or satin as well and accordingly, vary in price. As per what Mommy says, they are ideal for the monsoons and the daily public transport commute one endures in Mumbai.
So on her maiden trip to the Mall of all Malls - Mustafa Centre, you can imagine her delight when she spotted an entire section devoted just to 'Japan Saris'. I helped her pick what I'd like to think of as non-traditional prints for saris, making sure she's going to be quite the fashionista at her next gathering in Mumbai.
2. Having Mom visit us almost always entails eating some of her staple yummy fare. She loves to cook and we, ofcourse love to eat. This trip however was different; in that we now have Janet - the live-in maid/ cook/ babysitter - Our Superwoman-Friday as we can easily call her.
So Mom's role in the kitchen, this trip has been reduced to deciding the menu for the day and a random demonstration sometimes, for Janet to grasp Mom's kitchen techniques while cooking certain Indian dishes. Mommy thus got to spend more time with her grand-daughter just as she'd envisaged, making this her most relaxed ever vacation with us, yet.
3. The baby is growing up, at a visibly rapid pace, atleast in these past few months. The latest on her front or shall I say on our front is - employing child labour at home. Yes, we make our 19 month-old run errands for us. Nothing wrong with making use of all the available energy at home, now is there? Besides it's also called instilling good manners, in my books.
So for instance, we've taught her to dump her own laundry in the laundry basket and once in a while we send in some of ours, along with hers too. She's also learnt to clean-up after herself (Yes, to the 'Clean-up' song tune that once in a while I cant resist singing to the Hubster as well) and put her toys in her toy-box or deposit trash in the trash can. Ocassionally, she'll bring us a remote control that's kept near the TV or switch on the light in the room/ call for an elevator by pressing the button if we request her to. I am loving this delegation/ good habit-instilling business and hoping it continues for a long time to come!
4. We figured we may as well get some Singapore sight-seeing in, with the folks since we dont end up having a chance to do it otherwise. So we went to the Gardens by the Bay one afternoon this week. We didnt get a chance to cover the Outdoor gardens but did spend some time admiring the Cool Conservatories and Indoor gardens. The folks naturally loved it, more so because the baby insisted on walking whilst holding their hands and going "Wow..Nice" at the drop of a hat. Other than the gentle reminders that I had to keep making often to Mom, to resist her urge from touching some of the flowers, this was a fun, relaxed, unwinding kinda trip. But not necessarily one that Hubster and I see ourselves indulging in, without a set of tourists with us. With the next set of house-guests, we hope to return here to see the other gardens that we missed out on last time.
5. Dinner one night was at the newly renovated Konkani/ Goan seafood restaurant Gajalee (Yes, a branch of the Indian restaurant chain by the same name.) Hubster was naturally all excited, this being a mecca for his native food but had no clue he was in for a big disappointment!
Granted our bar is set high since we are now used to the best ever home-cooked Sol Kadhi/ Rice/ Fried Pomfret/ Shrimp Curry, courtesy M-I-L & Hubster's grandma. But a restaurant that is known to excel in this cuisine, should atleast measure up to be average? Our Pomfret pieces arrived identically machine-cut and coated so uniformly fine, that we were left looking for the rice flour around them. They tasted, at best mediocre! And they were devoid of the typical 'masala' that one expects with the dish. Ironically, at this seafood restaurant, the best dish on our table was the Chicken. We are certainly not going back, since we've figured our own kitchen, that employs Hubster's Grandma's excellent lessons & recipes passed-on to us, could certainly give Gajalee a run for their money!
6. We took the folks to our fave Hawker's market - Newtown Food Centre. Mainly since I wanted to show them how incredible Singaporean Street Food Culture was. Since we dont end up going there as often as we'd like to, we dont already have a favourite hawker there. You know the kinds, who sees you entering the space and escorts you right where you want to sit? So instead we strolled along the stalls for a bit before we made up our minds, on whom we wanted to give our business to. What really annoys me is when on seeing an Indian do the rounds of a food court, one imagines he/ she will want to eat Indian food too! I mean - Come on People! Yeah I know a lot of my clan are the hot-sauce-in-pasta types, but please give us a break. Just because we look 'desi' does not mean we are out to eat 'desi' all the time. Sadly though, it aint their fault. I've often found myself being the only Indian or South Asian face in Japanese restaurants, even in Singapore. So I guess we ask for that typecasting ourselves, dont we?
7. The Hubster took a quick two day work trip to HongKong and got back with gifts galore, for both his chicas. While I adored my presents, the baby is not particularly fond of hers (He got her a neck-pillow that she's not so crazy about. It's more really a gift for us to rest her head on, when she passes out in her stroller)
8. The baby got her first yelling at the hands of a stranger, this week. Yup, this happens in Asia - where random passers-by dont chat up your baby, but happily yell at her instead!
We were trying to watch a live public performance in the Marina Bay area of the city one night. That is when it happened.
A Singaporean woman, poohed the baby away, as she was trying to put her arm on the woman's shoulder while watching the live band play. Aghast by her reaction, I was'nt sure what to make of it. Perhaps my baby - all of 18 months old but looking older, really disturbed the lady, who thought this child (not baby) is mis-behaving by planting her little hand on a stranger's shoulder. Or perhaps the lady had just had a very bad day. Trying really hard to not judge her clan (Singaporeans in general), I picked up the baby and left the place, when told by the affected lady to make sure she is not disturbed again.
But only after I cast a disgusted "You poor lady" kinda look in her direction. Call me a biased mother, but to me, her behaviour was abominable and deserved reprimanding, not my 18 month olds!
The week ended on a slightly sad note as the parents flew back to Bom-Bom, as per the little one's reference. Good-bye's with loved ones are always solemn affairs, even though they are full of promises to meet up soon. Whether one lives in NYC or in Singapore, Mumbai is still far!
Tele-portation has not yet been invented, so the likes of me will only need to pray and live long enough, in the hopes that one day it is. And that's when my dream of living globally but being accessible locally whenever need be, will see the light of day!
On that rather hopeful note, you have a good one and see you next week!
Love,
Shweyta
The first time I learnt of the term, was when she first visited me in Astoria, Queens. I took her to Fashion Ave and it was like throwing open a box of cookies to toddlers waiting to go on a sugar rush. Or closer to home, it was like unleashing me in a grocery store!
That trip, Mom ended up buying some for herself and some for other colleagues/ friends who she was convinced would love them.
'Japan saris' are 6-1/2 yards of super light, almost dri-fit kind of printed, flowing material that lend themselves to become 'saris' rather easily, just by virtue of the lightness of their being. They could be polyester, chiffon, silk or satin as well and accordingly, vary in price. As per what Mommy says, they are ideal for the monsoons and the daily public transport commute one endures in Mumbai.
So on her maiden trip to the Mall of all Malls - Mustafa Centre, you can imagine her delight when she spotted an entire section devoted just to 'Japan Saris'. I helped her pick what I'd like to think of as non-traditional prints for saris, making sure she's going to be quite the fashionista at her next gathering in Mumbai.
2. Having Mom visit us almost always entails eating some of her staple yummy fare. She loves to cook and we, ofcourse love to eat. This trip however was different; in that we now have Janet - the live-in maid/ cook/ babysitter - Our Superwoman-Friday as we can easily call her.
So Mom's role in the kitchen, this trip has been reduced to deciding the menu for the day and a random demonstration sometimes, for Janet to grasp Mom's kitchen techniques while cooking certain Indian dishes. Mommy thus got to spend more time with her grand-daughter just as she'd envisaged, making this her most relaxed ever vacation with us, yet.
3. The baby is growing up, at a visibly rapid pace, atleast in these past few months. The latest on her front or shall I say on our front is - employing child labour at home. Yes, we make our 19 month-old run errands for us. Nothing wrong with making use of all the available energy at home, now is there? Besides it's also called instilling good manners, in my books.
So for instance, we've taught her to dump her own laundry in the laundry basket and once in a while we send in some of ours, along with hers too. She's also learnt to clean-up after herself (Yes, to the 'Clean-up' song tune that once in a while I cant resist singing to the Hubster as well) and put her toys in her toy-box or deposit trash in the trash can. Ocassionally, she'll bring us a remote control that's kept near the TV or switch on the light in the room/ call for an elevator by pressing the button if we request her to. I am loving this delegation/ good habit-instilling business and hoping it continues for a long time to come!
4. We figured we may as well get some Singapore sight-seeing in, with the folks since we dont end up having a chance to do it otherwise. So we went to the Gardens by the Bay one afternoon this week. We didnt get a chance to cover the Outdoor gardens but did spend some time admiring the Cool Conservatories and Indoor gardens. The folks naturally loved it, more so because the baby insisted on walking whilst holding their hands and going "Wow..Nice" at the drop of a hat. Other than the gentle reminders that I had to keep making often to Mom, to resist her urge from touching some of the flowers, this was a fun, relaxed, unwinding kinda trip. But not necessarily one that Hubster and I see ourselves indulging in, without a set of tourists with us. With the next set of house-guests, we hope to return here to see the other gardens that we missed out on last time.
5. Dinner one night was at the newly renovated Konkani/ Goan seafood restaurant Gajalee (Yes, a branch of the Indian restaurant chain by the same name.) Hubster was naturally all excited, this being a mecca for his native food but had no clue he was in for a big disappointment!
Granted our bar is set high since we are now used to the best ever home-cooked Sol Kadhi/ Rice/ Fried Pomfret/ Shrimp Curry, courtesy M-I-L & Hubster's grandma. But a restaurant that is known to excel in this cuisine, should atleast measure up to be average? Our Pomfret pieces arrived identically machine-cut and coated so uniformly fine, that we were left looking for the rice flour around them. They tasted, at best mediocre! And they were devoid of the typical 'masala' that one expects with the dish. Ironically, at this seafood restaurant, the best dish on our table was the Chicken. We are certainly not going back, since we've figured our own kitchen, that employs Hubster's Grandma's excellent lessons & recipes passed-on to us, could certainly give Gajalee a run for their money!
6. We took the folks to our fave Hawker's market - Newtown Food Centre. Mainly since I wanted to show them how incredible Singaporean Street Food Culture was. Since we dont end up going there as often as we'd like to, we dont already have a favourite hawker there. You know the kinds, who sees you entering the space and escorts you right where you want to sit? So instead we strolled along the stalls for a bit before we made up our minds, on whom we wanted to give our business to. What really annoys me is when on seeing an Indian do the rounds of a food court, one imagines he/ she will want to eat Indian food too! I mean - Come on People! Yeah I know a lot of my clan are the hot-sauce-in-pasta types, but please give us a break. Just because we look 'desi' does not mean we are out to eat 'desi' all the time. Sadly though, it aint their fault. I've often found myself being the only Indian or South Asian face in Japanese restaurants, even in Singapore. So I guess we ask for that typecasting ourselves, dont we?
7. The Hubster took a quick two day work trip to HongKong and got back with gifts galore, for both his chicas. While I adored my presents, the baby is not particularly fond of hers (He got her a neck-pillow that she's not so crazy about. It's more really a gift for us to rest her head on, when she passes out in her stroller)
8. The baby got her first yelling at the hands of a stranger, this week. Yup, this happens in Asia - where random passers-by dont chat up your baby, but happily yell at her instead!
We were trying to watch a live public performance in the Marina Bay area of the city one night. That is when it happened.
A Singaporean woman, poohed the baby away, as she was trying to put her arm on the woman's shoulder while watching the live band play. Aghast by her reaction, I was'nt sure what to make of it. Perhaps my baby - all of 18 months old but looking older, really disturbed the lady, who thought this child (not baby) is mis-behaving by planting her little hand on a stranger's shoulder. Or perhaps the lady had just had a very bad day. Trying really hard to not judge her clan (Singaporeans in general), I picked up the baby and left the place, when told by the affected lady to make sure she is not disturbed again.
But only after I cast a disgusted "You poor lady" kinda look in her direction. Call me a biased mother, but to me, her behaviour was abominable and deserved reprimanding, not my 18 month olds!
The week ended on a slightly sad note as the parents flew back to Bom-Bom, as per the little one's reference. Good-bye's with loved ones are always solemn affairs, even though they are full of promises to meet up soon. Whether one lives in NYC or in Singapore, Mumbai is still far!
Tele-portation has not yet been invented, so the likes of me will only need to pray and live long enough, in the hopes that one day it is. And that's when my dream of living globally but being accessible locally whenever need be, will see the light of day!
On that rather hopeful note, you have a good one and see you next week!
Love,
Shweyta
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