tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-88648568548608373402024-03-21T18:47:55.887+05:30One story a day : Reliving childhoodDivya Purandarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05911167122943608188noreply@blogger.comBlogger596125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8864856854860837340.post-70802107642770169822023-05-25T00:09:00.001+05:302023-05-25T00:09:54.160+05:30Julley...A Ladakhi adventure! <p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKn6XqseV3RYYi87HxVgianAlfFqzwfIGOGW8ub_okSlwMZhR-b0iFyfVLJtXAEc5UIK1ssMvPb96dyohv_nAoiXJ4p74lps-l6Ilbt1tAAoviOqgt5wARdGEI1pZco7T1d65bhYRUC5fS8_1cyEbawNKDLuAF_CM_8Tif1QCE_lHzVZ-lTzBQCUaqwQ/s1600/MONASTRY.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="836" data-original-width="1600" height="167" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKn6XqseV3RYYi87HxVgianAlfFqzwfIGOGW8ub_okSlwMZhR-b0iFyfVLJtXAEc5UIK1ssMvPb96dyohv_nAoiXJ4p74lps-l6Ilbt1tAAoviOqgt5wARdGEI1pZco7T1d65bhYRUC5fS8_1cyEbawNKDLuAF_CM_8Tif1QCE_lHzVZ-lTzBQCUaqwQ/s320/MONASTRY.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p></p><br />
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #454545; font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: KN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Garamond, serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">“<b><i>Difficult roads lead to beautiful destinations</i></b>”
read one of the road signs as we got out of Leh’s Kushok Bakula Rimpochee
airport and the saying probably best represented Ladakh’s landscape and told us what
we could to expect from our eight-day long trip to the land of high mountain
passes. Ladakh is truly a visual wonder – </span><span style="background: white; color: #050505; font-family: Garamond, serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">with its landscapes alternating from rocky to
sandy, from gravelled to snow-covered, with deep valleys and gorges, allowing
us to experience bright sunshine at sub-zero temperatures!</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-language: KN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYp-tCQIPM6mGFaD3yXrx-dUS1xtcv_MhjYCiom9zvEtfjnl1SLGpTv5vX8kaCpGsKlfxwYs309wJsRyls_klyjncWEObJ1h_Iid8fjluuTHDNqTp7vqyMBmeMIISDCeUIdb4qvzXGl_ouk8D2U9PCN56bdFnu85utd9bLJ6L-zillSUfJq4votmYVtg/s1024/MOUNTAIN%20VIEW.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYp-tCQIPM6mGFaD3yXrx-dUS1xtcv_MhjYCiom9zvEtfjnl1SLGpTv5vX8kaCpGsKlfxwYs309wJsRyls_klyjncWEObJ1h_Iid8fjluuTHDNqTp7vqyMBmeMIISDCeUIdb4qvzXGl_ouk8D2U9PCN56bdFnu85utd9bLJ6L-zillSUfJq4votmYVtg/s320/MOUNTAIN%20VIEW.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNy_oBkq0vNeJyj4p2-QgUhchUjUvqMtn9dx4YO075ryDkYzs-2T0lsD1kC_cd2KaKOoBkqKRrqKLis7XRifv8HY2c67IHgLChTwimsSsaytT8h34JVpOyveU9sIRwZ2b7c2jnZltpfhfFvu2B8X3jjUhCxiuS3ZtFWeBMKzk8rh8KRAg4PdWKySC2og/s1024/SIACHEN-MEMORIAL%20PIC.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNy_oBkq0vNeJyj4p2-QgUhchUjUvqMtn9dx4YO075ryDkYzs-2T0lsD1kC_cd2KaKOoBkqKRrqKLis7XRifv8HY2c67IHgLChTwimsSsaytT8h34JVpOyveU9sIRwZ2b7c2jnZltpfhfFvu2B8X3jjUhCxiuS3ZtFWeBMKzk8rh8KRAg4PdWKySC2og/s320/SIACHEN-MEMORIAL%20PIC.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicDDxkpat2K5NBNe-fWDflj6vmwAEpbiOwUUZ5UgEyMuGtyhNq5OB7AhgP3Np4mWYVbBKuU_GMnZYXwxUHYq2X0fsmb-SuuaAcez2NGKUcZHgEci0x_b_uSKOmlcAD6KgJCBc2LP7KWNA2pqAJyHCZ-BD65KE0juJzpzqNEypNnH-d2Faa1wAav2frqQ/s1600/TURTUK.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="729" data-original-width="1600" height="146" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicDDxkpat2K5NBNe-fWDflj6vmwAEpbiOwUUZ5UgEyMuGtyhNq5OB7AhgP3Np4mWYVbBKuU_GMnZYXwxUHYq2X0fsmb-SuuaAcez2NGKUcZHgEci0x_b_uSKOmlcAD6KgJCBc2LP7KWNA2pqAJyHCZ-BD65KE0juJzpzqNEypNnH-d2Faa1wAav2frqQ/s320/TURTUK.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-language: KN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;"><br /></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: KN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">We best remember the land of Siachen warriors for the
surround view of the imposing and colossal Karakorum mountainous range emitting
myriad shades of purple, green, brown, red and russet, Buddhist
monasteries and Stupas perched atop the most picturesque locales, snow covered
high altitude passes that makes one breathless both literally and figuratively
and its pristine lakes that have much more to offer than “All is well” selfies,
vegetarian friendly one pot (read bowl) meals of Skyu, Chhutagi, Thukpa and
Thenthuk and enriching and awe-inspiring experience at the Hall of Fame museum
of the Indian armed forces, and of course a fantastic opportunity to capture
the milky way in its night skies, provided one is ready brave the biting cold
in the dead of the night! </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-language: KN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: KN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #454545; font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: KN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP408qkXsaPX6E84454ijcFmUZt2EdsqE2Y3yZXtm26S1_bztChb3iIEZgSg-q1BB5sHBSrwBbr2H3cHcdYWCUl9qiVJ4n7QqYsz43gZo2Y2jTjGgLpdIPmkdDkUr_rhm1cAUuNyPPVL5OKwKBe_74_L3v_SZPRLKvAEQv6yF49RbgtRNtC8k8DmhP2g/s1600/CHANGLA.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="729" data-original-width="1600" height="146" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP408qkXsaPX6E84454ijcFmUZt2EdsqE2Y3yZXtm26S1_bztChb3iIEZgSg-q1BB5sHBSrwBbr2H3cHcdYWCUl9qiVJ4n7QqYsz43gZo2Y2jTjGgLpdIPmkdDkUr_rhm1cAUuNyPPVL5OKwKBe_74_L3v_SZPRLKvAEQv6yF49RbgtRNtC8k8DmhP2g/s320/CHANGLA.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0fLd3HFbIaRszFwAjl_my6fmOXmKaysxITmf4k6_fhRTnMt95kWDdPo4bkYoPw7bVT7rmERf5rImqgDqhGPTa4Krrl9q8g3ce7QLuEHhcRThxij-9FjC0PaTURBWOEzr7W988G3EtI51MxIY7LyCMtJEobHMhK-GhMhRZ9pCXJHmtlxAiLT2UkzrK6A/s1024/PANGONG%20LAKE.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="768" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0fLd3HFbIaRszFwAjl_my6fmOXmKaysxITmf4k6_fhRTnMt95kWDdPo4bkYoPw7bVT7rmERf5rImqgDqhGPTa4Krrl9q8g3ce7QLuEHhcRThxij-9FjC0PaTURBWOEzr7W988G3EtI51MxIY7LyCMtJEobHMhK-GhMhRZ9pCXJHmtlxAiLT2UkzrK6A/s320/PANGONG%20LAKE.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_xK7EHJpAYrzoE_Qxau2vMhurvslYD2b5RKq9IOXuJ8whfnEjNpa7ac2cXxvv-_SbfuHOnxAy2Q23T8VvWmNf4Q6zOo6gq33zOy9zdGAoZD7GmpoR5nYNuSbECA-9G66_07lSR4FU1Umh_ttis5MZgYj4nX8o6CfTeqBPBoHGT9crZuM1_c9iMy8hHQ/s1600/ZANSKAR.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_xK7EHJpAYrzoE_Qxau2vMhurvslYD2b5RKq9IOXuJ8whfnEjNpa7ac2cXxvv-_SbfuHOnxAy2Q23T8VvWmNf4Q6zOo6gq33zOy9zdGAoZD7GmpoR5nYNuSbECA-9G66_07lSR4FU1Umh_ttis5MZgYj4nX8o6CfTeqBPBoHGT9crZuM1_c9iMy8hHQ/s320/ZANSKAR.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbv4QFlv5vxMg0ma6V-ElUa93y3hdng1DFdsHrdZCOFKkbRpCv0LuXQeoO3rqjzmqP3qlOG-MnaWXjOOZj61d9a4pQxKBRIbe1-R37YT_fBXZMEyB9iI3pA1ysMB5T1IelQkEHZ87zWC0g2t2mG3Dpb_p3mFpwIQwPwnWOztzuoMaxOiaqbwy6QcT6Zg/s1024/MILKY%20WAY.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="982" data-original-width="1024" height="307" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbv4QFlv5vxMg0ma6V-ElUa93y3hdng1DFdsHrdZCOFKkbRpCv0LuXQeoO3rqjzmqP3qlOG-MnaWXjOOZj61d9a4pQxKBRIbe1-R37YT_fBXZMEyB9iI3pA1ysMB5T1IelQkEHZ87zWC0g2t2mG3Dpb_p3mFpwIQwPwnWOztzuoMaxOiaqbwy6QcT6Zg/s320/MILKY%20WAY.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #454545; font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: KN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">Ladakh offers a
little bit of everything for everyone - a “<i>push your limits</i>” adventure <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>for the brave-hearts, a meditatively calming
experience at the monasteries for the spiritually inclined, scenic drives with
breath taking views of the valleys and elevated ranges for the mountain bound, feeling
the rush of ice cold waters from Pangong lake to Shey river, from Zanskar to Indus
rivers for the water body,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>hopping from
one Tibetian market to another on Leh’s market <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>for the shopaholic, tasting the wide ranging
array of local cuisine to feast on for the foodie, and not to forget the quiet
starry nights for the astro-photography aficionado - the roof of the world
truly has lots to offer apart from a much needed break from the sweaty summer
of the South (so much so we forgot what it was like to perspire until we landed
in Delhi on our way back to Bangalore!).</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #454545; font-family: Garamond, serif;"><span style="font-size: 18.6667px;"><br /></span></span><span style="color: #454545; font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: KN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgj-QGRN3pJVwQqXa88aOUhGnzXNuFVNBGvj_CWdp1wnBvI-m7MRAj7moWVC3EivXeC_XykXf2muUFVywoRAEPjiqVs0Qs59gqF7NkfOjIwGS4ICRle7CafHEmlQBKzX3YbU-ev2FQmlhnZ_c6y2HsiRbpEEUffGvBMUgbK7l_q_MB6j73fX6rqYv2DRA/s1600/SHOPPIN.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="727" data-original-width="1600" height="145" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgj-QGRN3pJVwQqXa88aOUhGnzXNuFVNBGvj_CWdp1wnBvI-m7MRAj7moWVC3EivXeC_XykXf2muUFVywoRAEPjiqVs0Qs59gqF7NkfOjIwGS4ICRle7CafHEmlQBKzX3YbU-ev2FQmlhnZ_c6y2HsiRbpEEUffGvBMUgbK7l_q_MB6j73fX6rqYv2DRA/s320/SHOPPIN.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #454545; font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: KN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #454545; font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: KN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">As always, none
of our trips is complete without visiting a local book store, and we did manage
to find one such place at Leh’s market called “<u>Ladakh Book shop</u>”
However, I was a tad disappointed when we couldn’t lay our hands on any children’s
books on Ladakh or any book on local children’s stories, and instead found many
books on Tibetan tales for children.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJ6OrH_c3XjRDw9sc49gWUVqFklk98XqdWl398JE3fh8bFHFnBIxAJ1oPOUsgishOdC89yYI3Eq8g8yG8RmKQKP1eT5kLe-jjvLPK66IzNdHn4bGCW0CuDPRqM298dzcdW40-5ZfFFiIZZ25NhHlVjz41wlluzfH9HaxbEkQo-GqS-5FvVHMGT2WA9YA/s1600/BOOKSHOP.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="729" data-original-width="1600" height="146" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJ6OrH_c3XjRDw9sc49gWUVqFklk98XqdWl398JE3fh8bFHFnBIxAJ1oPOUsgishOdC89yYI3Eq8g8yG8RmKQKP1eT5kLe-jjvLPK66IzNdHn4bGCW0CuDPRqM298dzcdW40-5ZfFFiIZZ25NhHlVjz41wlluzfH9HaxbEkQo-GqS-5FvVHMGT2WA9YA/s320/BOOKSHOP.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><span style="color: #454545; font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: KN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;"><br /></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #454545; font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: KN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">But
considering that Ladakh is known for its monasteries spreading the message of
world peace, we picked up “<b><i>Jataka Tales</i></b> – <b><i>birth stories of
Buddha</i></b>” selected and retold by <i>Ethel Beswisk</i>, – a nice little
compilation of Buddha’s stories originally narrated in Pali, during the course
of his forty years after his enlightenment. Brought out in the form of
delightful stories revolving around mostly animal stories, with values and life
lessons to imbibe from, for children and adults alike. “Jataka Tales” will also
serve as a bibliographic souvenir reminding us our Ladakhi adventure!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #454545; font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: KN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSisux_sIkn08hdL0TrWxU1e0KPKl-cPBwzg_YEKVej63mY-WKF6zUPQ1mQt-WXBVFdtCGgnyAzKquyteJ2sAqAWDbW7A7SmDjiGlcofbBcBoNpNTYPacXTuNAGz7NARXlw0o0iRCtyBXsGPOtTmlECXuvwyhbg1UcEUZirq8BehAN-sMCazpH34zk5A/s1600/JATAKA%20TALES.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1057" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSisux_sIkn08hdL0TrWxU1e0KPKl-cPBwzg_YEKVej63mY-WKF6zUPQ1mQt-WXBVFdtCGgnyAzKquyteJ2sAqAWDbW7A7SmDjiGlcofbBcBoNpNTYPacXTuNAGz7NARXlw0o0iRCtyBXsGPOtTmlECXuvwyhbg1UcEUZirq8BehAN-sMCazpH34zk5A/s320/JATAKA%20TALES.jpg" width="211" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3FVNO-RNys4dgz0FSZrR7NB1h-8TJpFvbyWRxonnDmY6-l-68esaVbMbfUyYsVpqy0xCSnXEFC6dE3XiDX7v96iuN8SUAx2EdYbVsg-3VFCkxYAM9yJU6H54-7Y1DwrGejbdzcEvxvpIL2gLnQnEQjuSjcqU78eiBtTfW7gMRtsbOLpjKqkZeecmUOQ/s1280/WhatsApp%20Image%202023-05-22%20at%2023.31.50.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1280" data-original-width="1006" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3FVNO-RNys4dgz0FSZrR7NB1h-8TJpFvbyWRxonnDmY6-l-68esaVbMbfUyYsVpqy0xCSnXEFC6dE3XiDX7v96iuN8SUAx2EdYbVsg-3VFCkxYAM9yJU6H54-7Y1DwrGejbdzcEvxvpIL2gLnQnEQjuSjcqU78eiBtTfW7gMRtsbOLpjKqkZeecmUOQ/s320/WhatsApp%20Image%202023-05-22%20at%2023.31.50.jpg" width="252" /></a></div><br /><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #454545; font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: KN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="color: #454545; font-family: Garamond, serif; font-size: 14pt;">However, for a
children’s book on Ladakh, I didn’t have to travel too far and was pleasantly
surprised to have found this book tucked away in the corner of one of our book
shelves, </span><span style="color: #454545; font-family: Garamond, serif; font-size: 14pt;"> </span><span style="color: #454545; font-family: Garamond, serif; font-size: 14pt;">bought a few years ago in the
hope of travelling to Ladakh someday! “</span><b style="color: #454545; font-family: Garamond, serif; font-size: 14pt;"><i>Sonam’s Ladakh”</i></b><span style="color: #454545; font-family: Garamond, serif; font-size: 14pt;">, a Katha
publication by </span><i style="color: #454545; font-family: Garamond, serif; font-size: 14pt;">Manish Lakhani</i><span style="color: #454545; font-family: Garamond, serif; font-size: 14pt;"> is a wonderful book that vividly captures
the essence of the Ladakhi landscape, Ladakhi culture and its people. Narrated
by the five year old Sonam,</span><span style="color: #454545; font-family: Garamond, serif; font-size: 14pt;"> </span><span style="color: #454545; font-family: Garamond, serif; font-size: 14pt;">who belongs
to the indigenous semi nomadic Changpa tribe, the book takes one through a
visual tour of Ladakh during the peak of its winter and its myriad summer
colours, of its flora and fauna, pristine lakes and its beautiful monasteries
and best of all through Ladakh’s “quiet nights full of stars”! </span><span style="color: #454545; font-family: Garamond, serif; font-size: 14pt;"> </span><span style="color: #454545; font-family: Garamond, serif; font-size: 14pt;">Sonam’s Ladakh is surely a must-visit and a
must-read for those getting Leh’d this travel season!</span><span style="color: #454545; font-family: Garamond, serif; font-size: 14pt;"> </span><span style="color: #454545; font-family: Garamond, serif; font-size: 14pt;"> </span><span style="color: #454545; font-family: Garamond, serif; font-size: 14pt;">Our Ladakh
trip was like a breath of fresh air, and we came back refreshed, rejuvenated
and carrying a little bit of Ladakh with us!</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #454545; font-family: Garamond, serif; font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span></p>Divya Purandarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05911167122943608188noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8864856854860837340.post-10552672205201344852022-12-12T00:46:00.000+05:302022-12-12T00:46:45.437+05:30A BLF - Regular! <p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjkZ9jclhwuNk3kRWN2ybJoSj80rL6hvOez6ePPSlIvrcG6iYYsfwNaWtd8sqLrUIhYa3BR6ChwI3xgq4U-nfeoToRdifUZHRWDVXDywAZvY6qCspVCPW5pfHn2h6KZjbFe82EzLw9v-Wv2Sw0wCECvwjMWjSiWEKJuPojcumSDGpovX1tiIogSyc-Xg/s4032/IMG-6961.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjkZ9jclhwuNk3kRWN2ybJoSj80rL6hvOez6ePPSlIvrcG6iYYsfwNaWtd8sqLrUIhYa3BR6ChwI3xgq4U-nfeoToRdifUZHRWDVXDywAZvY6qCspVCPW5pfHn2h6KZjbFe82EzLw9v-Wv2Sw0wCECvwjMWjSiWEKJuPojcumSDGpovX1tiIogSyc-Xg/s320/IMG-6961.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /> <p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #454545; font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: KN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">“<b><i>Bigger,
Bolder and livelier</i></b>” is how author Shoba De described this year’s
Bangalore Literature festival, with its 11<sup>th</sup> edition that was held
last weekend at the grounds of Hotel Lalith Ashok. To borrow from Suresh Menon’s words,
a literature festival makes reading a community event and what a shared celebration of
reading and books it was! <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Spread across
two days over four different stages (named after the Late Puneeth Rajkumar’s
movies), <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>with diverse topics ranging
from Pico Iyer’s reflections to Manu’s Joseph’s zero hour styled “as me
anything” , from Kabir Bedi’s memoir to Veerappa Moily’s autobiography, from the exhuberent and inimitable Jerry Pinto to the gentle and understated Jahnavi Barua, from a beautiful
rendition and translation of the Shankaracharya’s “Soundarya Lahiri” to a
discussion on Bhuta worship in Dakshina Kannada, from the impassioned speech of<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>festival regulars like Ramachandra Guha to
the recently emerging author/thinkers like engineer turned advocate K Sai
Deepak,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>from VVS Laxman’s batting to
Sunil Chhetri’s footballing journey, from bringing alive Kannada epics in
“Gamaka” to celebrating minor languages in Karnataka in ‘Hosa Baraha”, from finding empowerment in fandom in Shrayana Bhattacharya’s refreshing “Desperately seeking
Shahrukh Khan” to being enthralled by the Kannada superstar Ramesh Arvind’s
success mantras, it was indeed an intellectual extravaganza for bibliophiles,
literary and cultural enthusiasts in the city.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #454545; font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: KN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkK7EmlYWsdvBvpiz-CI44PIJawu6Sw04rg4eX5oEsDe12hgd0AVWYt2kBn9MtRDh-27MrHBuqR7pmEagUQXMzf6DW75m_0clq-1rbKLKfOeYa0Sc3urS4lNgvlx9eR8WwbYJzDwB6TfAX9VbYVJ1pHT1M54jX27qIbnu_lJzpwpCxf_X7WNbU94yKSQ/s4032/IMG-6969.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkK7EmlYWsdvBvpiz-CI44PIJawu6Sw04rg4eX5oEsDe12hgd0AVWYt2kBn9MtRDh-27MrHBuqR7pmEagUQXMzf6DW75m_0clq-1rbKLKfOeYa0Sc3urS4lNgvlx9eR8WwbYJzDwB6TfAX9VbYVJ1pHT1M54jX27qIbnu_lJzpwpCxf_X7WNbU94yKSQ/s320/IMG-6969.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #454545; font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: KN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">Not to forget, the Children’s Literature festival making its
reappearance after a hiatus of<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>two years
with<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>two stages, “Malgudi” and “Seonee”
engaging both the young ones and the tweens and the teens.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We
have been BLF regulars as a family for the last ten years, and our experience so far is best
represented in my older one’s journey
from attending <i>Rohini Nilekani’s Sringeri Srinivas</i> story time at the very <a href="https://divya-onestoryaday.blogspot.com/search?q=storytime+at+Makkala+">first edition</a> in 2012 to sitting through gripped by the heart-wrenching tale of Dr. Kafil
Khan on his book “<i>Gorakhpur hospital tragedy</i>”! Of course….we couldn’t be any
more pleased as Abhay<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>marked out
sessions he wanted to attend on his own (without his overbearing mom around!)
or as he went up to ask questions after the session or<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> as he </span>lined up in queue to get the books signed by
authors while interacting with them! In a way it has been a coming of age of
sorts for Abhay as he graduates from being a <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“<b>CLF</b>” regular to a “<b>BLF</b>”
enthusiast! <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #454545; font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: KN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgK-tLNDvIcVuZ7zEK_w6Cx-CBrrr-wtCvzwfOC-FwU0RdU6W2ko7IlO1s61YgKUJXijz-BTp1WZ5HEwV6rQRshA_jZEFce7qnLZfVWNQ2dmp1qDBuTx3p7Yki4LUB0klIg2snEoRhpc-WGEcBoUQ2Qrt2vpBxYBIzBBy3VVNZX3EHBF7c_0Y9I8Q--pw/s1600/2c47fd18-a350-4b01-ad1c-6ebf0ef6f429.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1177" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgK-tLNDvIcVuZ7zEK_w6Cx-CBrrr-wtCvzwfOC-FwU0RdU6W2ko7IlO1s61YgKUJXijz-BTp1WZ5HEwV6rQRshA_jZEFce7qnLZfVWNQ2dmp1qDBuTx3p7Yki4LUB0klIg2snEoRhpc-WGEcBoUQ2Qrt2vpBxYBIzBBy3VVNZX3EHBF7c_0Y9I8Q--pw/s320/2c47fd18-a350-4b01-ad1c-6ebf0ef6f429.JPG" width="235" /></a></div><br /> <p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #454545; font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: KN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">Besides BLF
stage hopping, Abhay also played chaperone to his little sister at some events
at CLF on the second day, allowing us take a break from our role as parents!
Our program schedule leaflet resembled an amusement park map, reflecting a
rough strategy to be able to make it to each of our marked-out sessions<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>while ensuring that Aadya was supervised at
her parallel sessions running at CLF…. like Abhay was to finish a session with
Anubhav Sinha and Jerry Pinto<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>on “Book
of Dog’<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>at <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Yuvaratna” stage and head over to “Malgudi” to take care of his sister for a drawing session with Labonie Roy, so that my husband
could tune into a “Gamaka” session with Gangamma Keshavamurthy and Shantha
Nagamangala at “Raajakumara” stage and I could catch Shrayana Bhattacharya’s session
at “Yuvaratna” just to sprint back to CLF so that ABhay could walk back to “Gandhada Gudi” stage </span><span style="color: #454545; font-family: Garamond, serif; font-size: 18.6667px;">for Sunil Chhetri’s session “Awakening the Blue Tiger”! </span><span style="color: #454545; font-family: Garamond, serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">! </span><span style="color: #454545; font-family: "Segoe UI Emoji", sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">😊</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #454545; font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: KN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFgeF1ApwnQDaP2LzPvMgg9MJ5r9WdaN4Hou1R9YKhp2UQlTQgcHgUkambqUiEWqWIR_Ofs0SHtyF30cmc4TETlAXFNPG4YP-Ac_tIqI4SAie2j3HncVmTg-fpsuJ_lRkU3VWTx3MEYyd9BYVsIZqaOVVgYkbrFJpI8Vs0XOF_16lllY6L01DOxYC2Aw/s3000/IMG_20221211_234923.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2012" data-original-width="3000" height="215" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFgeF1ApwnQDaP2LzPvMgg9MJ5r9WdaN4Hou1R9YKhp2UQlTQgcHgUkambqUiEWqWIR_Ofs0SHtyF30cmc4TETlAXFNPG4YP-Ac_tIqI4SAie2j3HncVmTg-fpsuJ_lRkU3VWTx3MEYyd9BYVsIZqaOVVgYkbrFJpI8Vs0XOF_16lllY6L01DOxYC2Aw/s320/IMG_20221211_234923.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #454545; font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: KN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">While Aadya
missed out on the first day of CLF, she had plenty to look forward to on the
second day- from a DIY session on making one’s own string instrument with
Krithika Sreenivasan from the Indian music Experience (IME) to witnessing a
culinary show based on recipes inspired from children’s books by Ranjani Rao
and Ruchira Ramanujam from their book “<i>Bookworms and Jellybellies</i>”, from story-time
by Priyanka Agarwal<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>to a session with Bijal Vachharanjani and
Rajiv Eipe’s hook book titled “<i>Kitten Trouble</i>”,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>finally ending the day with a
fun filled show by India’s only woman ventriloquist Indushree Raveendra. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #454545; font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: KN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhT8nrSp66yGbuxkFjY1ebM6XR__1GnJDdgUKNGbu_BeG778y-hzb3Xq8RjtmmJ0uNzHkIta_1_DP01ptErhMmt0OmtodOcg1TPrFhuSI7wXZF8mAqthEzyrVakWy3uVHTPs07Qnbiame5BfZYG5ulZ8odo6HBi5OziSF0xUtfWfH82c1eONoo1EjoPjA/s4032/IMG-7060.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhT8nrSp66yGbuxkFjY1ebM6XR__1GnJDdgUKNGbu_BeG778y-hzb3Xq8RjtmmJ0uNzHkIta_1_DP01ptErhMmt0OmtodOcg1TPrFhuSI7wXZF8mAqthEzyrVakWy3uVHTPs07Qnbiame5BfZYG5ulZ8odo6HBi5OziSF0xUtfWfH82c1eONoo1EjoPjA/s320/IMG-7060.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #454545; font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: KN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">One of the books
we picked up was by Honey Irani “<b><i>Shakya’s little secret</i></b>” brought
out by Om publications along with another book “<i>Akira Shakya and the Grouchy
owl</i>”, which was launched by the author herself with her son Farhan Aktar
joining in at the BLF. Though Aadya couldn’t attend one of her sessions on ‘Living
with nature” , her older brother managed to grab a copy earlier in the day, and
stood in queue to have it signed!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #454545; font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: KN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiq5zqzs7RAMhatUEA2_M3q2Nw4O09WuI04OmMSLhAn-SL7fPAtYJ1ylZUFK7LMiQ1HwkMVOKu3kEv05otn7fNKFY5p7SCe4E7IxAt7BLc1nHKXdPc16nNDt_DOIWfW68hAcUovk2p_N6vQI7etjiUbuzTauMLrekQLwgDP3Uc1LJHXRG9ykI7jjuwvzQ/s1600/e32edaf0-2290-430e-a65b-1656cb2136af.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiq5zqzs7RAMhatUEA2_M3q2Nw4O09WuI04OmMSLhAn-SL7fPAtYJ1ylZUFK7LMiQ1HwkMVOKu3kEv05otn7fNKFY5p7SCe4E7IxAt7BLc1nHKXdPc16nNDt_DOIWfW68hAcUovk2p_N6vQI7etjiUbuzTauMLrekQLwgDP3Uc1LJHXRG9ykI7jjuwvzQ/s320/e32edaf0-2290-430e-a65b-1656cb2136af.JPG" width="240" /></a></div><br /><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #454545; font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: KN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A tad long for a picture book, Honey Irani
weaves two wonderful stories around her grandchildren Akira and Shakya that
make for a delightful read. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Little Shakya
is down with severe cough and as her parents frantically try to seek help, guess
who comes to her rescue? The birds, bees, bugs and the plants outside her window!
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Honey Irani’s engaging narrative brings
out various anthropomorphic characters and their idiosyncrasies, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>from empathetic Simi the parrot and her eager
friend Penny the Pigeon, from her Royal Highness Queen Bee to her reluctantly
obedient subject Fizzy-Wizzy-Bizzy bee, from the helpful Tulsi plant to the ever
wise Lore, the owl, and the story is about how they all come together not only to cure little Shakya
of her cough but also enable her to have a super-human experience that she can
she can cherish all her life, inspiring in her a life long true love for nature! <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A unique storyline with an important
message of being one with nature, and Aadya loved it and was thrilled to see the
book signed out for her – with a lovely message – "</span><span style="font-family: Garamond, serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="color: #cc0000;">Book is you best friend, done
let it go!" </span></span><span style="color: #454545; font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: KN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">A an apt message for all the kids and adult alike …don’t you think? Until the next BLF……!! <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #454545; font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: KN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhG_Neyro7-owtfnQVBbyTvdi4wawrVIczXsmDraVoLN5XecqwyzyXoRz9lp1aiz-dd9jcNxg-BmxMoWDJMwCMriFHGAb2taE7nyJUxG04M3WynBWbkNK46Z6U_8bkvX08lVUC894RzfGPXsFbzZB1b-CqpogierMIQsGAAE4p8wTP8j54MKHnAFt5DCw/s2796/IMG_20221211_233806.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2780" data-original-width="2796" height="318" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhG_Neyro7-owtfnQVBbyTvdi4wawrVIczXsmDraVoLN5XecqwyzyXoRz9lp1aiz-dd9jcNxg-BmxMoWDJMwCMriFHGAb2taE7nyJUxG04M3WynBWbkNK46Z6U_8bkvX08lVUC894RzfGPXsFbzZB1b-CqpogierMIQsGAAE4p8wTP8j54MKHnAFt5DCw/s320/IMG_20221211_233806.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="color: #454545; font-family: "UICTFontTextStyleBody",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: KN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>Divya Purandarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05911167122943608188noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8864856854860837340.post-5682292109332059872022-07-18T23:01:00.007+05:302022-07-18T23:15:52.359+05:30The girl who loves to draw! <p> </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #454545; font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: KN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">It is an
understatement to say that Aadya loves drawing. When it comes to Aadya and her penchant
for drawing, I am always reminded of a movie quote from the 90’s American movie
“Sister Act 2 - Back in the habit” which goes like <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“</span><span style="font-family: Garamond, serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="color: red;">When you wake up in the morning, and you cant
think of anything but singing, then you should be a singer, girl</span></span><span style="color: #454545; font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: KN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">” ….. this couldn’t
be any more truer with Aadya and her drive to draw that is uppermost in her mind as she wakes
up every morning! <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #454545; font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: KN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEid3D-T93RwDQwiOPRLWzMP_p6SqiV8wSojQrMtJxddtFxxx9oSyZ-2nsNH5LWBKMrIzZqNtMUSX9TnDIAsplbyvDNMKV-vTW4xZhVc9PW4yqnZKTJcNkUpwur96HmJMNsGYg5YNmIjHu7KS1fQ-sVWogni2Q8L-WBKmBEDgIAHARzRoQcs61E8k4EFyQ/s3840/452214EE-8CEE-4501-BA5A-B79AFFBEB87A.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2160" data-original-width="3840" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEid3D-T93RwDQwiOPRLWzMP_p6SqiV8wSojQrMtJxddtFxxx9oSyZ-2nsNH5LWBKMrIzZqNtMUSX9TnDIAsplbyvDNMKV-vTW4xZhVc9PW4yqnZKTJcNkUpwur96HmJMNsGYg5YNmIjHu7KS1fQ-sVWogni2Q8L-WBKmBEDgIAHARzRoQcs61E8k4EFyQ/s320/452214EE-8CEE-4501-BA5A-B79AFFBEB87A.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #454545; font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: KN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXuYF6zjxnpo-UjJB92PFQC0Fh3RmERsmGrP-LLqXmuvFHLHJmPQbZoKfTMntiFgCjO7c8anljbp6Tjm-1iYwKs160Vyi6aYg7OKz92IZDNsZpojEqsNHqtZxUPCT9tiVK3Fz2bvPN9j1URzXr9uxvXl2sTH5HmL6KLvBSnAKqeh1cE9NvQpzkzNRVkA/s1600/0117b245-ac18-4b2b-8613-6de6654fa41b.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXuYF6zjxnpo-UjJB92PFQC0Fh3RmERsmGrP-LLqXmuvFHLHJmPQbZoKfTMntiFgCjO7c8anljbp6Tjm-1iYwKs160Vyi6aYg7OKz92IZDNsZpojEqsNHqtZxUPCT9tiVK3Fz2bvPN9j1URzXr9uxvXl2sTH5HmL6KLvBSnAKqeh1cE9NvQpzkzNRVkA/s320/0117b245-ac18-4b2b-8613-6de6654fa41b.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><o:p><br /></o:p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #454545; font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: KN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">What began as simple
doodling has now blossomed into a creative, engaging, and sometimes all-consuming
form of expression for Aadya. Initially, Aadya was stuck on drawing princesses and
all their trappings, and then she moved on (phew!) to depicting her thoughts, state
of mind, her wishes, or her understanding of a story or a book onto her drawing
board! <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(quite literally! </span><span face=""Segoe UI Emoji",sans-serif" style="color: #454545; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ascii-font-family: Garamond; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: KN; mso-char-type: symbol-ext; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN; mso-hansi-font-family: Garamond; mso-symbol-font-family: "Segoe UI Emoji";">😊</span><span style="color: #454545; font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: KN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">) <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Drawing is not only Aadya’s favourite pastime
or her hobby but also a form of solace on days that she is upset over something….
as she pulls out two sheets from the big pile of one-sided printed sheets (a very
useful recycling method for my office waste!) and starts to draw………all is forgotten! It’s not unusual to find her suddenly disappear to her desk in the middle of watching
a family movie and reappear with an image she has sketched, drawing inspiration
from something she’d seen on screen just a few minutes ago, like drawing two children
playing tennis as were all watching “King Richard”! </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMMt08iRQnzYt_tfnZrAZ5IZaSml5cFTUo7qiX-R_8rJBlh5Jb2qtHoQFFCg4jQA1P3f8CijbGIw8SDBd4TnksJ8TQVfI6X9PEZLdckHb7RJkTa1EMacgPX0HlSSo7Ww7W9JcZl6_o1lTVz-IiPz08G1BLneHD85A-uYk8e1-UteA3O9ji-qK3FgbQWA/s4032/IMG-5927.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMMt08iRQnzYt_tfnZrAZ5IZaSml5cFTUo7qiX-R_8rJBlh5Jb2qtHoQFFCg4jQA1P3f8CijbGIw8SDBd4TnksJ8TQVfI6X9PEZLdckHb7RJkTa1EMacgPX0HlSSo7Ww7W9JcZl6_o1lTVz-IiPz08G1BLneHD85A-uYk8e1-UteA3O9ji-qK3FgbQWA/s320/IMG-5927.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><span style="color: #454545; font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: KN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;"> It’s not uncommon to find her immediately turn out a replica of an image pasted on a new piece of clothing that we just brought home from shopping! </span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #454545; font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: KN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieu3TCZKQaBQolVHKZ5fQ5fbjlMzJKFXxJTVVqqw_TCc6AsvMlw-rSPajZSqwOu0uFCkD_2o8A4RCsvknZhjkAoLjWiPC-rL-lm-e7APNmtiX-Tn1VCO-3Hc-YWFfm6Lw1nk5cVJ37zGLBzilKBbEJT1f4amm_3RCEKu7NaFL92oJLSB0--GmTsHbJNQ/s3724/E0540751-FD9B-4C4B-A031-AA14E12DCA07.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2096" data-original-width="3724" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieu3TCZKQaBQolVHKZ5fQ5fbjlMzJKFXxJTVVqqw_TCc6AsvMlw-rSPajZSqwOu0uFCkD_2o8A4RCsvknZhjkAoLjWiPC-rL-lm-e7APNmtiX-Tn1VCO-3Hc-YWFfm6Lw1nk5cVJ37zGLBzilKBbEJT1f4amm_3RCEKu7NaFL92oJLSB0--GmTsHbJNQ/s320/E0540751-FD9B-4C4B-A031-AA14E12DCA07.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #454545; font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: KN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span></span></p>It’s not out of the ordinary for our unstoppable little one
to churn out 10-12 drawings every day! It’s not odd to find our house cluttered
with one-sided printed sheets of all sizes, with Aadya’s drawings on the other
side, lying everywhere around the house! It's not easy to swallow your guilt as
she doodles out this workaholic image of yours as she waits for you to wind up at
work! </span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #454545; font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: KN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj11RpT29ydcoNvklXtqmL0LxByOzHXTpIMSDpWKVx-0BoOtbHtyEV9dUdLFnPjYrI4ZYqRi5OxBUBOG5BbX0c-OmdzgLDrfl61a3B2Br2U_AuWti5bAsOdgwJh47s4AqLDQXvxUgQN-StDzRbR_Y18x6WvYUK4No6-H0EXnPbEYEvJxwK93Kry_apzBA/s4032/IMG-5713.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj11RpT29ydcoNvklXtqmL0LxByOzHXTpIMSDpWKVx-0BoOtbHtyEV9dUdLFnPjYrI4ZYqRi5OxBUBOG5BbX0c-OmdzgLDrfl61a3B2Br2U_AuWti5bAsOdgwJh47s4AqLDQXvxUgQN-StDzRbR_Y18x6WvYUK4No6-H0EXnPbEYEvJxwK93Kry_apzBA/s320/IMG-5713.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #454545; font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: KN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span></span></p>It’s not a birthday celebration at all, </span><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 14pt;">without Aadya’s colourful, vibrant and imaginative
birthday cards that make for wonderful keepsakes for everyone in the family!</span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #454545; font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: KN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrNSFUR0Rmqu_JOFWfUQwBjWr2yyexw1oL1cyJWP3cOD2BfeT2b2iZkPZYnzqyzMj1hjxMqoF4uUwJ5biqtkm4IEkBKwg8xUfJI4fdz0QcNwY9RxHVqy8Oarf4PblR3Ic73PgL-UDI3_0NZazAVffHHZqN2vklVDMP_IxlKqe0lFPLpqxD_-VZ3Po14g/s1600/33c839a5-1654-40c7-9bb5-799664041274.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrNSFUR0Rmqu_JOFWfUQwBjWr2yyexw1oL1cyJWP3cOD2BfeT2b2iZkPZYnzqyzMj1hjxMqoF4uUwJ5biqtkm4IEkBKwg8xUfJI4fdz0QcNwY9RxHVqy8Oarf4PblR3Ic73PgL-UDI3_0NZazAVffHHZqN2vklVDMP_IxlKqe0lFPLpqxD_-VZ3Po14g/s320/33c839a5-1654-40c7-9bb5-799664041274.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #454545; font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: KN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">So much so that
a recent visit to the planetarium and the Indira Gandhi park had us unexpectedly
and serendipitously gate crash into the Sunday meet up of an art group called “Pencil
scratchers” where Aadya found herself most at home with a paper and pencil,
rubbing shoulder to shoulder with fellow pencil artists and attempting to sketch a live model! <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #454545; font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: KN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj61PihA0Py5JLsZ33wGs9ApX7e2sBv2yH93B32Fa9Vv7aRgyqOYoYwm7RY2InyZuvfOV9w7gFEat24sO3l7eG2BR2SwNtSNkSzKLLMwJT6c-24HI10djdf04P9E7Xj9d5vhcwhL1tRTA5RZjDJTs-ynC6gm0GwmbtmUAzQNRK2D73h75C6gmgwQgt2Tg/s1600/8be4e512-d909-4c51-9e9a-491ea070cb7b.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj61PihA0Py5JLsZ33wGs9ApX7e2sBv2yH93B32Fa9Vv7aRgyqOYoYwm7RY2InyZuvfOV9w7gFEat24sO3l7eG2BR2SwNtSNkSzKLLMwJT6c-24HI10djdf04P9E7Xj9d5vhcwhL1tRTA5RZjDJTs-ynC6gm0GwmbtmUAzQNRK2D73h75C6gmgwQgt2Tg/s320/8be4e512-d909-4c51-9e9a-491ea070cb7b.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #454545; font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: KN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiE0UzHOiKJG2-dqMBml2kvx5ywkLYdTq8cFyLCdyL-_AoDZ8T_fGKl4PXjZyVzMgW3Y_v75d-NXCI2wKJnpTx79Qv5JGdft4sAjSqLWi9_Lc2qndBvAUBVcKRl6YfMLgYn4lzq2iNAqlUfNbf43Zvt8bx03H2Bj4qvvGiP7qwjUzsZ5I4uiVq6U2TKng/s1263/a2dafec6-4d65-4699-a009-6f6581d9fedd.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1263" data-original-width="811" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiE0UzHOiKJG2-dqMBml2kvx5ywkLYdTq8cFyLCdyL-_AoDZ8T_fGKl4PXjZyVzMgW3Y_v75d-NXCI2wKJnpTx79Qv5JGdft4sAjSqLWi9_Lc2qndBvAUBVcKRl6YfMLgYn4lzq2iNAqlUfNbf43Zvt8bx03H2Bj4qvvGiP7qwjUzsZ5I4uiVq6U2TKng/s320/a2dafec6-4d65-4699-a009-6f6581d9fedd.jpg" width="205" /></a></div><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #454545; font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: KN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span></span></p>For someone who brightens
our days with her brilliant drawings, we decided to preserve all her creations bound
into books – and we already have over fourteen bound volumes of over 100 pages
each, comprising of her drawings over last year and a half! Let’s hope she draws
her way into filling an entire cupboard in the near future!</span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #454545; font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: KN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhq6JaGMpP1gptFxAsb0BqxZdN5d0gCyCVYVPCiMyaroJwHsB9QRxOssyqRQRnvKP2pUbfgxo8RN53uqDHtuV0V3ZY_aQPEo9rHKENkerrCBrWbYUJ3_n3Oac7i5FqkOBYKjD7wofTPBMCOe3pXoflWFj-S191VuGvYAG25fout2Ro2G3PIwLFKL72WBQ/s4000/IMG_20220619_182340.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="4000" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhq6JaGMpP1gptFxAsb0BqxZdN5d0gCyCVYVPCiMyaroJwHsB9QRxOssyqRQRnvKP2pUbfgxo8RN53uqDHtuV0V3ZY_aQPEo9rHKENkerrCBrWbYUJ3_n3Oac7i5FqkOBYKjD7wofTPBMCOe3pXoflWFj-S191VuGvYAG25fout2Ro2G3PIwLFKL72WBQ/s320/IMG_20220619_182340.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivlnSUS1iVdH3OM8GBt6eore7TF22qjApxHkE_OUXkbU_92leAyQPXFDCZL7_lzbAE41zkHKeUzaFoaj56uyxkvbb5axh_yfajxbQCgGDIzapQ_0N_fV2SIdDNqTJkh_QBUNwp6GWcAat8zbmW_I870EHC2hwBctFqsBlvXzajKcNO7t0L4LQdlWpr8w/s4000/IMG_20220619_182419.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="3000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivlnSUS1iVdH3OM8GBt6eore7TF22qjApxHkE_OUXkbU_92leAyQPXFDCZL7_lzbAE41zkHKeUzaFoaj56uyxkvbb5axh_yfajxbQCgGDIzapQ_0N_fV2SIdDNqTJkh_QBUNwp6GWcAat8zbmW_I870EHC2hwBctFqsBlvXzajKcNO7t0L4LQdlWpr8w/s320/IMG_20220619_182419.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #454545; font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: KN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="color: #454545; font-family: Garamond, serif; font-size: 14pt;">So this year as
she turned seven (almost two months ago and its another thing that I manage to
write about it only now!), Aadya was insistent on having her birthday cake
reflect her artistic quotient and Viola! ….we did celebrate her birthday in a
rather artsy-craftsy way at “Firefly terrace” with a few friends and cousins
who joined in the celebrations by way of a creative activity </span><span style="color: #454545; font-family: Garamond, serif; font-size: 14pt;"> </span><span style="color: #454545; font-family: Garamond, serif; font-size: 14pt;">planned for both kids and adults….and we all
got our little artsy keepsakes to take home, that we can always remember Aadya
and her seventh birthday celebration!</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgL_T5s2mqQSL8KyEJN6RjWSKrCjkFjrQyGditAde_eW4YoA0zFvmXOUIwnrXFtqfqZUv_AITT0O4jEMq_pZWB2GGOMaghtrVsXkFoVGNsyp_poEuhDkDbippayNeOFq81i1NpeVrq3VGjWRDUjjPFIhnlCJw3Y49ilzPO8RovpL0V2c8w6zUgy0IJbFQ/s4032/IMG-5555.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgL_T5s2mqQSL8KyEJN6RjWSKrCjkFjrQyGditAde_eW4YoA0zFvmXOUIwnrXFtqfqZUv_AITT0O4jEMq_pZWB2GGOMaghtrVsXkFoVGNsyp_poEuhDkDbippayNeOFq81i1NpeVrq3VGjWRDUjjPFIhnlCJw3Y49ilzPO8RovpL0V2c8w6zUgy0IJbFQ/s320/IMG-5555.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><br /><span style="color: #454545; font-family: Garamond, serif; font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #454545; font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: KN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #454545; font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: KN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhq0T1VkRhhwiIXYS2QIj9-eOB23lYoVt3ATpDYixtDde9e58LvtQVApVE7iwEpT1PiGIiEtn9vn_bHvrU3vr9pnmcHU-DgmVO-Sh26Eq1svHmZDDXOBqmeL0_mah4HXpSGwIN5zgM5mz4HZH8gdfQBJfxnFPgDPz9tiLywIjylNcl-7KF9IcahGsUo6g/s1280/f3591588-7d33-430e-b987-cba6ba880c01.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="1280" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhq0T1VkRhhwiIXYS2QIj9-eOB23lYoVt3ATpDYixtDde9e58LvtQVApVE7iwEpT1PiGIiEtn9vn_bHvrU3vr9pnmcHU-DgmVO-Sh26Eq1svHmZDDXOBqmeL0_mah4HXpSGwIN5zgM5mz4HZH8gdfQBJfxnFPgDPz9tiLywIjylNcl-7KF9IcahGsUo6g/s320/f3591588-7d33-430e-b987-cba6ba880c01.JPG" width="320" /></a></span></span></div><span style="color: #454545; font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: KN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span><o:p></o:p></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #454545; font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: KN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">As Aadya
explores her artistic side more, we revisited the book “ <a href="https://divya-onestoryaday.blogspot.com/search?q=I+Gotta+Draw" target="_blank">" I gotta draw"</a>” by
<i>Bruce Degan</i> that I had read to her brother almost 8 years ago! That apart, we
also got a few books that she could relate to and thanks to the wonderful library
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Kahaani box” <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>we had a decent line up of books related to
art and love for expressing oneself through drawings. From <b><i>Fancy Nancy’s</i>
“<i>Aspiring Artist</i>”</b> , where Nancy is inspired to into being an <i>artiste</i>
in her characteristic fancy style to <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b><i>“Tell
us a story Papa Chagall” </i></b><i>by Laurence Anholt</i> , which is a delightful
introduction to the dream-like style of painting of Marc Chagall and <b><i>“Prince
with a Paintbrush”</i></b> by <i>Shobha Tharoor Srinivasan and illustrated by
Ravika Sen</i> which is a charming read on the “Leonardo-Da-Vinci of India”-
Raja Ravi Varma! <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #454545; font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: KN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjT1Ao0-AoiMog8OiEewVRfMNnsGmSLB1bSKj7BH8NToSe6-MtQIAbjqteFuLKri4VH0Uso_a2ymxncCDz9IvtwH-Wo6c-VhyC1aWrfoIOqN8idxKeotuOid5syiIBhxlzkWaFmG1dolLtFgSeUN6CN2a51b1cYqDAHN7qDRQSKIUUDhs_aT8UTHKJJMA/s4032/IMG-5874.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjT1Ao0-AoiMog8OiEewVRfMNnsGmSLB1bSKj7BH8NToSe6-MtQIAbjqteFuLKri4VH0Uso_a2ymxncCDz9IvtwH-Wo6c-VhyC1aWrfoIOqN8idxKeotuOid5syiIBhxlzkWaFmG1dolLtFgSeUN6CN2a51b1cYqDAHN7qDRQSKIUUDhs_aT8UTHKJJMA/s320/IMG-5874.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #454545; font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: KN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdu9mTU-sfN9e8iczKa70X-P4IXRTvyYnA-28_Tq00CgX5xyxEdPl0Yfq3ZD7nC-Olnl-Pbzr_xDsIEzwezgGgieZZ59XCRDQailpjvOMA0EZ38bJ8bJc1jqpsFPvC5ewIFWjXwTEbBgYPxCg9lJ8ksvnJCeWXrzNHlUQeDaP4FGT3cW_CYDsjMLaytg/s4032/IMG-5922.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdu9mTU-sfN9e8iczKa70X-P4IXRTvyYnA-28_Tq00CgX5xyxEdPl0Yfq3ZD7nC-Olnl-Pbzr_xDsIEzwezgGgieZZ59XCRDQailpjvOMA0EZ38bJ8bJc1jqpsFPvC5ewIFWjXwTEbBgYPxCg9lJ8ksvnJCeWXrzNHlUQeDaP4FGT3cW_CYDsjMLaytg/s320/IMG-5922.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><br /><o:p><br /></o:p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #454545; font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: KN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">But Aadya most
of all related to “<b><i>Bea Garcia - My Life in Pictures</i></b>” <i>written
and illustrated by Deborah Zemke</i>, an early reader series brought out by
Puffin books. We couldn’t have found a similar book, which revolves around a little
girl named Beatrice Holmes Garcia aka Bea who has a penchant for drawing and
expressing herself through pictures of everything about her life as it is and
as she wishes it to be! It was almost as if we were looking at a reflection of
our little aspiring artist as we read about how Bea navigates through her school
and social life after her best friend Yvonne moves to Australia, all expressed
through her magnificent drawings! . Read on as the teacher confiscates Bea’s
book “My life in pictures” that almost threatens to expose her quirky view of
her classmates only to have the circumspect teacher realise the power of her
pencil! So… draw on…. my aspiring little artist …..the world is your canvas! :-) <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="color: #454545; font-family: "UICTFontTextStyleBody",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: KN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>Divya Purandarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05911167122943608188noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8864856854860837340.post-65759245327323699042022-05-24T00:08:00.000+05:302022-05-24T00:08:47.739+05:30Travelling to the Land of the Lepchas! <p> </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #454545; font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: KN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">Over the last
few days, we have been at Sikkim, the Northern eastern Himalayan state nestled
in between Nepal and Bhutan. Known for its pristine beauty of glacial lakes,
breathtaking valleys, gushing waterfalls at every corner of the mountain drive,
panoramic view of the snow-capped Himalayas, and the precarious mountain passes.
Mind you… exploring Sikkim is not for the faint hearted or one with a sensitive
stomach - it involves fortifying yourself for freezing temperatures,
being prepared for anytime down pour, and enduring through winding and
meandering drives through changing landscapes, bracing yourself for
breathlessness at high altitude points and of course grappling with motion
sickness even when you have never ever got sick during travel! </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipJAdR1xQWQufFJbXnwdw7JmIWWILiYksMUUjWu1xmzhxIwDAJkQML3aAfFX-mW4ZXY8N9NyMtJJhTviqE6LIVUEdp1vPBBxFUc1ZqDH-AQiAqNu5pubod7PNFZHZLACGgx0DG9wIDbHqcIqSuCix5LnvKtBq6KXq6DmY0hxkhwliKwgeG-y3CenG7qA/s1600/6a826b01-0a74-4706-afa4-38c5f062f573.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipJAdR1xQWQufFJbXnwdw7JmIWWILiYksMUUjWu1xmzhxIwDAJkQML3aAfFX-mW4ZXY8N9NyMtJJhTviqE6LIVUEdp1vPBBxFUc1ZqDH-AQiAqNu5pubod7PNFZHZLACGgx0DG9wIDbHqcIqSuCix5LnvKtBq6KXq6DmY0hxkhwliKwgeG-y3CenG7qA/s320/6a826b01-0a74-4706-afa4-38c5f062f573.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-HfpuJ5r3EQaaHM9rVt55rzXt19JwYijKwDZRbKDJes8l3kTNjsss8yiHjMAM7AzrjFEDeQrUdV-vUVeJWlJi-4g_hmrae-g_Cv6w2nM0R7K_7PbtM-XMO6j77A1RnZtq8VzTMZE-8NSmSCv_TfRkZq7rGyfctqahVRzR8SPBiAPkeyCZUnwTcJHgTA/s1040/e19f16a7-7d08-49cb-86b8-2244bb9cf27d.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1040" data-original-width="780" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-HfpuJ5r3EQaaHM9rVt55rzXt19JwYijKwDZRbKDJes8l3kTNjsss8yiHjMAM7AzrjFEDeQrUdV-vUVeJWlJi-4g_hmrae-g_Cv6w2nM0R7K_7PbtM-XMO6j77A1RnZtq8VzTMZE-8NSmSCv_TfRkZq7rGyfctqahVRzR8SPBiAPkeyCZUnwTcJHgTA/s320/e19f16a7-7d08-49cb-86b8-2244bb9cf27d.JPG" width="240" /></a></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><br /></p><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZMNF_zFV-k1JBw1f_KSXUybqiFxNYxg7S2AYDYNhVKUuj6DaD3S9b7UJqghZqHnGiYAMPznoEgyc0oL_PqWLc2BEFMGFbdpgpFrGIhS8MX2NWyB-SWmJA8tlOSCDs9IwcVMJZ5ZXuPscgnA8V4xeDUbwfUXe-xmnfOASsTtT8iYqgK14Yh02NHvxmEQ/s1600/40962c19-7946-4c40-a0f4-d91bd14f4a69.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /></a><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZMNF_zFV-k1JBw1f_KSXUybqiFxNYxg7S2AYDYNhVKUuj6DaD3S9b7UJqghZqHnGiYAMPznoEgyc0oL_PqWLc2BEFMGFbdpgpFrGIhS8MX2NWyB-SWmJA8tlOSCDs9IwcVMJZ5ZXuPscgnA8V4xeDUbwfUXe-xmnfOASsTtT8iYqgK14Yh02NHvxmEQ/s1600/40962c19-7946-4c40-a0f4-d91bd14f4a69.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVMITBuP68_hVepWQQuuQB1GYHbalhobxVFKS0MyUmjUJMrAi0xUCUturPkpyK5imwaKOqGPSqrneFKCsLUMLoKbZWmS2Vd6LBbDW3G6UZZNWga9Gg9Jgah6r5hZHGTZ1MUQVCFazkXomutKJeDt9wwfs-3CY6zaT2jKKIezi6aCP2ncAiKhWQyETlzQ/s4032/IMG-5423.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVMITBuP68_hVepWQQuuQB1GYHbalhobxVFKS0MyUmjUJMrAi0xUCUturPkpyK5imwaKOqGPSqrneFKCsLUMLoKbZWmS2Vd6LBbDW3G6UZZNWga9Gg9Jgah6r5hZHGTZ1MUQVCFazkXomutKJeDt9wwfs-3CY6zaT2jKKIezi6aCP2ncAiKhWQyETlzQ/s320/IMG-5423.jpg" width="320" /></a></div></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #454545; font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: KN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">But all
such discomfort dissolves into delight with one look at the mist covered calm
waters of Tsomgo lake, or the chance to snowball each other even in summertime
at the “Zero point”, or the awe-inspiring views of the majestic Himalayas on
the way to Yumthang valley, or experiencing the roar of the “Amitabh Bacchan”
waterfalls on the way to Lachung, or taking in some cool refreshing
mountain air while on the pine forest trail to Rabtanse ruins at Pelling,
or waking up after quick shut-eye during a long drive to a spectacular
sunset coloured sky over the silhouetted valleys… truly …travelling around
Sikkim is all about enjoying the journey as much as the destination … more like
life itself…isn’t it!! <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #454545; font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: KN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRFgNR48qfTh-0hB5oH9oF3-MvMwq1dsLz16TIDDB0XtipntSKAO5FQp-FHlod0EJzOaGR75xpWCY1CZcjDp-QVg367mHcfL944u9jQkFQ147x_xwaiCYN5Mr7_-XtXnnf_xtOJmG6DRSMtlqlzGdo66f97CxpFX2xM77n4rrXTmhGCvLBw1OPzOcbdQ/s1600/40962c19-7946-4c40-a0f4-d91bd14f4a69.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRFgNR48qfTh-0hB5oH9oF3-MvMwq1dsLz16TIDDB0XtipntSKAO5FQp-FHlod0EJzOaGR75xpWCY1CZcjDp-QVg367mHcfL944u9jQkFQ147x_xwaiCYN5Mr7_-XtXnnf_xtOJmG6DRSMtlqlzGdo66f97CxpFX2xM77n4rrXTmhGCvLBw1OPzOcbdQ/s320/40962c19-7946-4c40-a0f4-d91bd14f4a69.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #454545; font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: KN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">It’s after
almost two and half years that we’ve donned on our travelling pants (even
literally!) and our trip was wedged in between Abhay finishing his class 10
board exams and the reopening of courts in Bangalore after summer vacation and
amidst incessant rains, and peak-season rush through out Sikkim and Darjeeling,
Aadya’s terrible motion sickness (we had polythene bags tucked in at every
compartment of the vehicle only to find them missing when we most needed them!)
and Abhay’s annoying obsession with uploading stories on his instagram handle
(now that his exams are over we had to keep our promise of letting him resume
his social media activity!) …. we did manage to make it one of the most
memorable trips ever! <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #454545; font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: KN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #454545; font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: KN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">Our last stop
was the West Bengal’s queen of hill stations - misty Darjeeling which was more
of a reality check and reminder of the traffic jams back home in
Bangalore! Since we were nursing a minor stomach upset and were also
exhausted from our Sikkim adventures, we avoided the usual touristy spots and
chose to take it slow and indulged in some retail therapy on the Mall road,
while enjoying some live jazz at one of its famous eateries - Glenary’s and stopping by Oxford Bookstore. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #454545; font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: KN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaQU09UkxrUxok4u37Yb9ZxMyPg5RJMzNNg_a61Qsc3ppE3RkfC2GnAlY0wmn-4HjOtfW2tCwp0aT2dYshSEbNVrrXfjziV2PYvyeA2rzj2MXnmJGXc_FNZv_g9Op_OFN6t3OLy9hSEuprsPICutzL-lkJpgM_ormiqgEPGou2u_8MHkWPINK2VVUMtA/s4000/IMG_20220521_160553.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="4000" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaQU09UkxrUxok4u37Yb9ZxMyPg5RJMzNNg_a61Qsc3ppE3RkfC2GnAlY0wmn-4HjOtfW2tCwp0aT2dYshSEbNVrrXfjziV2PYvyeA2rzj2MXnmJGXc_FNZv_g9Op_OFN6t3OLy9hSEuprsPICutzL-lkJpgM_ormiqgEPGou2u_8MHkWPINK2VVUMtA/s320/IMG_20220521_160553.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #454545; font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: KN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">One of the sure
ways of avoiding the crowds is to either travel during off-season or
visit off-beat places within popular destinations. While it’s nearly impossible
to travel during off season with school going-exam-writing kids,
and it’s not always possible to have the entire trip comprise of off-beat
places, but it’s always possible to be a discerning traveller and look out for
not-so-oft visited places like museums, quaint cafeterias and bookstores that
are storehouses of local history and culture. For instance, while there were
serpentine queues at the ropeway ride, there was not a single soul at
Gangtok’s Black cat museum - which we pleasantly discovered to be a wonderful
state-of the art museum showcasing Sikkim’s history and the trajectory of the Army's Black Cat Regiment stationed in Gangtok. While none of the localities were even
aware of this museum, the administrator of the museum himself appeared to be curious
about how we discovered this place. So much so, that even the taxi driver whom
we hailed to go to our next destination was even more inquisitive about our
visit and wondered what interesting things possibly lay therein! <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #454545; font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: KN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #454545; font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: KN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgElLCmLPA0NwR9w2xI2tevbRu_QCh_GloMsve9p0wPS7F5bWA1UkuhfeRqbwF4sNsJJ8tYljHo30HcFhP3lLOmm9K9oMXi1n4efSrkWmiTzFYw2Gt-yx4Gt0FRtngTEtLRyiuhev11gsi423XeDH5U6SM04H70AD6yfrZKcdxG4RzPOlfXUWwlHz9zRQ/s4032/IMG-5374.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgElLCmLPA0NwR9w2xI2tevbRu_QCh_GloMsve9p0wPS7F5bWA1UkuhfeRqbwF4sNsJJ8tYljHo30HcFhP3lLOmm9K9oMXi1n4efSrkWmiTzFYw2Gt-yx4Gt0FRtngTEtLRyiuhev11gsi423XeDH5U6SM04H70AD6yfrZKcdxG4RzPOlfXUWwlHz9zRQ/s320/IMG-5374.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #454545; font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: KN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;"> ….which
leads me to our next destination….bookstores. As always in all our travels, one
of the mini highlights of our trip is to visit a local bookstore and by now our
entire family looks forward to it and given a chance Aadya would have spent an
entire day at two of Gangtok’s famous bookstores - Good Books centrally located
at Gangtok’s MG Marg and Cafe Fiction or Rachna Books (as it’s listed on
Google) located opposite Gangtok’s Secretariat Office. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #454545; font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: KN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #454545; font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: KN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">Just off one of
the busiest parts of MG market and near Baker’s cafe (a famous cafeteria with
charming and eclectic decor, offering delectable variety of baked goodies and
eateries ), <b>Good books</b> houses a wonderful collection of mainstream books and
many works by local authors where we ended up buying a few regular Usborn
Early Readers for Aadya and an interesting compilation of tales of the land of
Lepchas (Sikkim’s aboriginals), aided by amiable and helpful bookstore
owner. Good Books is indeed a lovely place for book lovers to make a pit stop
amidst their MG market shopping! <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #454545; font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: KN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWddIcFRiYESDEDl4w7P3I2h8RVyQGsXY69wNa4QqXdsH6CFQyAapGe7Yj7cS6ZGyR7pFbvlswtA9T6mf8cqhBe5ARWjHuuRBn28I0negU9VIFIuC_wNFkdFf6cMsgnME1KstzK2a_yHNy3jrzvl5-eCBg3LGvO9ZRo9yyesptY3q7eHH7IawXDe9MrA/s4000/IMG_20220515_184232.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="3000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWddIcFRiYESDEDl4w7P3I2h8RVyQGsXY69wNa4QqXdsH6CFQyAapGe7Yj7cS6ZGyR7pFbvlswtA9T6mf8cqhBe5ARWjHuuRBn28I0negU9VIFIuC_wNFkdFf6cMsgnME1KstzK2a_yHNy3jrzvl5-eCBg3LGvO9ZRo9yyesptY3q7eHH7IawXDe9MrA/s320/IMG_20220515_184232.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><br /> <p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #454545; font-family: Garamond, serif;"><span style="font-size: 18.6667px;"><br /></span></span><span style="color: #454545; font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: KN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizs1NKo5YG99k3no-fcKUrsskXVQ2wXusGHM0cQhplAJZXpXO1AZmb5FMq2UgMl94oTK3UI-vx2s1xIhzzk_mtePzu8vOAusA9KRfYy7IM6u5rM51PvQeUoZdsrtjo-nnZMRaKa2shnKjj2iT8ZXlr6BmHySstLrut3jpojWDpTEHgb5wMtOYAvY-dWQ/s4030/IMG-5493.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2255" data-original-width="4030" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizs1NKo5YG99k3no-fcKUrsskXVQ2wXusGHM0cQhplAJZXpXO1AZmb5FMq2UgMl94oTK3UI-vx2s1xIhzzk_mtePzu8vOAusA9KRfYy7IM6u5rM51PvQeUoZdsrtjo-nnZMRaKa2shnKjj2iT8ZXlr6BmHySstLrut3jpojWDpTEHgb5wMtOYAvY-dWQ/s320/IMG-5493.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #454545; font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: KN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">We also dropped
into Cafe Fiction, an award winning bookstore cum cafeteria that has a
beautiful display of a wide variety of mainstream and independent publications that
one can pull out from the aesthetically placed bookshelves and curl into their
super-comfy chairs reading them…while sipping a hot cuppa coffee, by the giant
windows offering beautiful views of the street below. I wish “Namma Bengaluru”
too had our very own Cafe Fiction! <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #454545; font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: KN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZok18VOdm9sqD40dmVsgDWjbnH2w7-bgL_TKqvxK2HugyFfWDoropNTlCqQQK9cl1l9k_a5T4WulBa-jhCG7XPYIZWd1rJWupAKGpVs1N96oh5J9BgUMYsgEOjc3zhFCf-_-bgJlSGOcV4LGu7K3MW05BACPKbD_d7DzXLnAcbb_gV_GRCUtdhcwj_g/s1600/de98fa8e-0415-461c-baf7-48232d5863dd.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="965" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZok18VOdm9sqD40dmVsgDWjbnH2w7-bgL_TKqvxK2HugyFfWDoropNTlCqQQK9cl1l9k_a5T4WulBa-jhCG7XPYIZWd1rJWupAKGpVs1N96oh5J9BgUMYsgEOjc3zhFCf-_-bgJlSGOcV4LGu7K3MW05BACPKbD_d7DzXLnAcbb_gV_GRCUtdhcwj_g/s320/de98fa8e-0415-461c-baf7-48232d5863dd.JPG" width="193" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #454545; font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: KN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidZaeqwgZfKtR4v0ZM86Qn2bVeJtIwhOzZGEuN0B2do9aCOnOKpZSUcSP2xuIP6n7qHVcwDFruEtlu2nKz7tGCC4PWqQaMjTG8T-YhDdFvMx8gTeq4BoNxjSrqPJUko6w6jEhr4JPaVwNFMXgsAXA91qxi-QJ7QYbv6_BYLfcejzDxbClZdBCslrTd3Q/s4000/IMG_20220516_180255.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="4000" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidZaeqwgZfKtR4v0ZM86Qn2bVeJtIwhOzZGEuN0B2do9aCOnOKpZSUcSP2xuIP6n7qHVcwDFruEtlu2nKz7tGCC4PWqQaMjTG8T-YhDdFvMx8gTeq4BoNxjSrqPJUko6w6jEhr4JPaVwNFMXgsAXA91qxi-QJ7QYbv6_BYLfcejzDxbClZdBCslrTd3Q/s320/IMG_20220516_180255.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><o:p><br /></o:p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #454545; font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: KN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">Anyways.. thanks
to Make-my-trip, we now return to Bangalore glad that our Sikkim trip was by
and large uneventful (though there were scares of landslides at certain places
owing to heavy rains) refreshed and rejuvenated for our routine grind back
home, our social media accounts full of stories and posts to put up and our
minds full of happy memories and four bags full of laundry! :-) <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #454545; font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: KN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhH_HXYg2WW0njpeb83ccwO5I3ABAbHqPBNEYXGKzsr4T-wktOG5ej3ftQBqGO86-aawPvpqE6AiNHvYkk4G0z58JSMdJkwp46vFzuBwCyNICfUIs4zlgZnV9wzLWb-xFng4JgbRsY50szQDQkoA_5Vw6PKRKzXu1tco71WCL_sNU5NoEm3f2PG2JNxkw/s4032/IMG-5336.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhH_HXYg2WW0njpeb83ccwO5I3ABAbHqPBNEYXGKzsr4T-wktOG5ej3ftQBqGO86-aawPvpqE6AiNHvYkk4G0z58JSMdJkwp46vFzuBwCyNICfUIs4zlgZnV9wzLWb-xFng4JgbRsY50szQDQkoA_5Vw6PKRKzXu1tco71WCL_sNU5NoEm3f2PG2JNxkw/s320/IMG-5336.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #454545; font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: KN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">Well… as my
colleague was intrigued to notice books even in my travel DPs .. I must
say that a travel without books is no travel at all! Despite long road trips
during the day.. reading to Aadya was never given a miss (not that she would
herself or let us go to bed without a book) and thanks to “Good Books” and
“Cafe Fiction”, we were never short of interesting reads. But to
commemorate our Sikkim trip, we read from “The Legends of the Land of Lepchas
Folk Tales from Sikkim” by Yishey Doma and Pankaj Thapa. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh18t-BLcEMRO87lgMtUM5B383RiDnm3rcHHR8gzC0fFzRUPGR2EzSvckBEdFNpcufnniwkX6G9J6E7W2nErD0pbI7ajSSNZBuk_Axyk1XOykAplKpnjY8ZwJMTe9RgQlEoMhF2kuTZp4Cxy_uwiknEuI-8RCoLUzB0mFIXy9Myi_VbGffLOa6bw_e0Fg/s4032/IMG-5492.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh18t-BLcEMRO87lgMtUM5B383RiDnm3rcHHR8gzC0fFzRUPGR2EzSvckBEdFNpcufnniwkX6G9J6E7W2nErD0pbI7ajSSNZBuk_Axyk1XOykAplKpnjY8ZwJMTe9RgQlEoMhF2kuTZp4Cxy_uwiknEuI-8RCoLUzB0mFIXy9Myi_VbGffLOa6bw_e0Fg/s320/IMG-5492.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><br /><span style="color: #454545; font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: KN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;"><br /></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #454545; font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: KN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">A beautiful collection
of folklores on various aspects Sikkim’s environment, history and
culture. We were delighted to make some connections of what we saw, felt and
experienced from some of the stories. From story of “ <i><b>The Race between Teesta
and Rangeet</b></i>” that gives a mythical side to the confluence of the rivers of
Rangeet and Teesta river that we came across on our way from Bagdogra to
Gangtok to “<b><i>A tale of two trees”</i></b> being the story of Lali Guras, Sikkim’s
Rhododendron that we saw aplenty at the Yumthang valley, or the “<b><i>The Cave of Occult
Fairies</i></b>”, the story of Guru Padmasambhava or Guru Rimpoche who subjugated the
demons and saved his devotees from evil, that reminded us of giant statues of Guru
Padmasambhava <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>at Sandrupse hill and at Pelling
skywalk, and the fact that Mount Khangchendzonga is a constant presence in all
the stories just as the view of the mountain <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Khangchendzonga <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>was our constant quest throughout our trip! While
we are set to get back to pavilion from now on, this book serves as a wonderful
parting shot for our minds and hearts still hung over the land of Lepchas! <o:p></o:p></span></p>Divya Purandarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05911167122943608188noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8864856854860837340.post-36479916756122326092022-05-14T21:05:00.001+05:302022-05-14T21:12:35.477+05:30What can I be! <p> </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #454545; font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: KN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;">It’s not very often that both my children (who are almost
nine years apart ) are pondering over the same things.. and when that does
happen .. the difference in their respective situations seem even more glaring
and bemusing! Not too long ago, my soon-to-be seven year old daughter was quite
taken in by <i>Niyatee Parikh Sharma’s “What can I b</i>e”? (It’s a different matter that I
managed to find time to blog about it a couple of months later!) She was
fascinated by the interaction that the mother-daughter duo have about what
the daughter wants to be when she grows up!! Round about the same time, my son
was going through his own “what after-class-10” pangs and “What should I do - dilemma”
dominated his thoughts and our thoughts too …and continues to this day as he
finishes his class 10 Board exams! While he is clear on what he does not want (“Im
done with science for life”! he screamed as he finished his science exam last
week)… he is still not clear about he what he sees himself doing! While there are a couple of obvious choices .... he has been in "yet to decide" mode for quite sometime now. Unlike our
generation who grew up in the 80’s and 90’s, the Gen Z today are spoilt for
choices and seem jaded with the endless possibilities that lie before them. While there are many who have figured it all out and are already on their
decided path, there are many others who are yet to decide on their future course
of action. But having already scaled up the physiological needs and probably even psychological
and self-esteem needs, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> as per the </span>famous psychologist
Abraham Maslow’s “Pyramid of needs”, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>most
kids today are directly onto achieve “self-fulfilment”! <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Ever notice
that the question or doubt about the “scope” of a particular choice that was uppermost
in our minds back in the 80’s or 90’s does not even cross their minds today! <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Of course, it’s most desirable that they are
probably making choices solely based on their interests, but can they sustain
their interest in the choices that they’ve made … and as parents - it’s a fine
balance between being control freaks and being too pliant! With too many choices
creating too much confusion, I just hope the saying “When people have too many
choices, they make bad choices” will not turn out to be true! </span><span style="color: #454545; font-family: "UICTFontTextStyleBody",serif; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: KN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiZl11WsfNSZ_BbOwtF_vYPT0bosPc9Rqcxvd2FS27N1FtYDl67svQvv1aWfAGlPtsjujEDBIAZnU65X8NOH4v7z3n0tgscGWNA0CHwS4bBryY6hPW98mOjGSiN0AXIIRhgY2Mx8bkXyAcw3fSPptOW0FlgegjI0AZsEnjZujviPyJCryswLli7dzxfw/s2545/IMG-5323.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2412" data-original-width="2545" height="303" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiZl11WsfNSZ_BbOwtF_vYPT0bosPc9Rqcxvd2FS27N1FtYDl67svQvv1aWfAGlPtsjujEDBIAZnU65X8NOH4v7z3n0tgscGWNA0CHwS4bBryY6hPW98mOjGSiN0AXIIRhgY2Mx8bkXyAcw3fSPptOW0FlgegjI0AZsEnjZujviPyJCryswLli7dzxfw/s320/IMG-5323.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">Anyway, having
just finished his class 10 Board exams, and that too four days earlier than
others who had opted for Hindi as second language, Abhay is not mood to think
about his future as of now, and he is simply super thrilled about being in his own words “Done
with school!” …and believe me there is no looking back there! As if to
celebrate this milestone, we revisited Aadya’s once favourite along with her older
brother (so as to nudge him into thinking about it) - “<b><i>What can I be</i></b>” <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>by
<i>Niyatee Parikh Sharma</i> and illustrated by <i>Vibha Suryanarayan</i>,
brought out by <b>Tota </b>books. It’s a wonderful conversation driven story
wherein a little girl wonders what can she be when she grows up and her mother
assures her that she can be anything she dreams of <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>- from an architect, just as they stand before
an anthill who are the most amazing architects of nature, or a mountaineer<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>or marine biologist as they sit by the lake
watching tadpoles, or an archaeologist as they excavate shells from the earth,
and many such choices, as they juxtapose them with related creative and explorative
activities around nature. A wonderful light hearted read that makes for an
interesting parent-child activity about life and career choices that your
little one may want to explore. Vibrantly illustrated, my little one could very
well relate to the little girl’s dreams and aspirations and the narrative inspires
kids to create their own path! <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As we
finished reading this book, Aadya confidently declared that “I want to be an
artist”!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Wow….I only wish her brother is
as clear minded as she is about what he wants be! <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span face=""Segoe UI Emoji",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ascii-font-family: Garamond; mso-char-type: symbol-ext; mso-hansi-font-family: Garamond; mso-symbol-font-family: "Segoe UI Emoji";">😊</span><span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>Divya Purandarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05911167122943608188noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8864856854860837340.post-21348361893542655512022-03-05T00:31:00.005+05:302022-03-05T10:04:48.806+05:30Embroidered creations of love! <p> <span style="font-family: Garamond, serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">I have
never been the arts-craftsy type of person and have always been envious of
people who are dextrous enough to create a tangible work of art like a
painting/drawing/sketch or crafts like handicrafts/embroidery/jewellery, etc.
My mother though, has always dabbled into such creative arts like painting and hand-embroidery as a hobby and still pursues the same post retirement. My daughter loves to draw and prolifically
turns out pencil sketches of her view of the world around her…and I cant help
wondering if God skipped a generation while bestowing the artsy-craftsy
creative gene to our family! </span><span face=""Segoe UI Emoji", sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">😊</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">Anyway,
my mother finds great satisfaction in her hand embroidery work and more so on her post retirement move to Dharmasthala. Anyone close friend or family
member visiting Shristi is sure to leave with one of amma’s exquisitely embroidered
pieces as a return gift to remember their Shristi visit. Drawing inspiration
from the surrounding nature, or traditional art designs like Warli, Kantha,
Kasoothi or Kutch, amma creates magic with her fingers through her intricate
needlework embroidery on vibrantly coloured fabrics, or left over blouse pieces
and weaves. She has even embarked on what she likes to call her “magnum opus” – an
embroidered creation of mathematical equations pieced together into a massive
bedspread representing almost four decades of her life dedicated to the
scholarship and teaching of mathematics at Jyothi Nivas College, Bangalore. As
Im writing this…I see amma’s focussed needlework creating a beautiful string of flowers on
a bright red poplin cloth!<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjPsevOXP8dB-vAt8cRLPkXBdNOK4uMn4AMDEqzFg9Bu2DWvsjyIn-5AcVpjcwG5YmSTnf_qpvkmFsX8JyIrwKfx6_51RDqe80LkatBpUPX1cEEwRs1n6EaBIZdlcSc7pg7SCDui6P4UNfQagKTKJLvPltH2s1MUxI6jcFEJVQTct_EQmJunpeVV2hteA=s1032" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="581" data-original-width="1032" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjPsevOXP8dB-vAt8cRLPkXBdNOK4uMn4AMDEqzFg9Bu2DWvsjyIn-5AcVpjcwG5YmSTnf_qpvkmFsX8JyIrwKfx6_51RDqe80LkatBpUPX1cEEwRs1n6EaBIZdlcSc7pg7SCDui6P4UNfQagKTKJLvPltH2s1MUxI6jcFEJVQTct_EQmJunpeVV2hteA=s320" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEheBmz4olSBh0tPx8Yqf8n2d6vRmT4GDqG_uPnLoyKPFoGtxlHCLb-B_v7FG-xSF8RHZvCltkEvy6WGLDoLBBPAb02U0OuiNsQIacVqkyr7Ss4qIfIgcfIwwhW-oAIM7z96w1dsv7t8ohSiXIft0wazUMqDt_wegUgGfno5EvuGhtYRrIG7Pmw_iwvHpw=s1280" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1280" data-original-width="960" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEheBmz4olSBh0tPx8Yqf8n2d6vRmT4GDqG_uPnLoyKPFoGtxlHCLb-B_v7FG-xSF8RHZvCltkEvy6WGLDoLBBPAb02U0OuiNsQIacVqkyr7Ss4qIfIgcfIwwhW-oAIM7z96w1dsv7t8ohSiXIft0wazUMqDt_wegUgGfno5EvuGhtYRrIG7Pmw_iwvHpw=s320" width="240" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">Off
late, Aadya and her grandmother share a special connection through
their own forms of art. Aadya presented one of her drawings of a silhoutte of a tree as a gift for her “Sanna-ajji”
and Lo and Behold! her “Sanna-ajji” had replanted her tree into customised
pillow case!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEijdvPoEdEIObs9wBJeqQpq3KAJXQtETCDpL3xobjeXRmNNu_9-tWeCiz1pS1tZByEhfsmHTQCwtYOeNcwx4kVfslCpLfKK0ctku8yWxlAlJ5291ltLfprhDlw7r1KdFVW7GWbniPnpBnhrUlTzAzDiGPoK81fPzESs4Hunx2BkkMKfFoxo_tXVQvvQKg=s4032" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEijdvPoEdEIObs9wBJeqQpq3KAJXQtETCDpL3xobjeXRmNNu_9-tWeCiz1pS1tZByEhfsmHTQCwtYOeNcwx4kVfslCpLfKK0ctku8yWxlAlJ5291ltLfprhDlw7r1KdFVW7GWbniPnpBnhrUlTzAzDiGPoK81fPzESs4Hunx2BkkMKfFoxo_tXVQvvQKg=s320" width="240" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEio64_fuoNYQp7Q-2Phjvmipa5ARB04d7C4CmQiY67tJJJ9YxMYMZwM5SoEGfKbBMBBGZwyuvUSBnwcQ1iUzzwvVcJM4hWNmlEvoNyhKITWOrA6XJSqbQ3urfRZYjhIEZcEMwgNXuADuT-sx8URjQb6vYga_YKr0x8OXOdZ9HQbtYcSpTWEiVdmJl2ZBQ=s1032" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1032" data-original-width="581" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEio64_fuoNYQp7Q-2Phjvmipa5ARB04d7C4CmQiY67tJJJ9YxMYMZwM5SoEGfKbBMBBGZwyuvUSBnwcQ1iUzzwvVcJM4hWNmlEvoNyhKITWOrA6XJSqbQ3urfRZYjhIEZcEMwgNXuADuT-sx8URjQb6vYga_YKr0x8OXOdZ9HQbtYcSpTWEiVdmJl2ZBQ=s320" width="180" /></a></div><br /><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">Thanks
to amma, all four of us have personalised pillow cases with taglines specially embroidered
by amma…with “Acchu our Hero” for Abhay, “Aadya our Princess” for my daughter,
“Multitasker of Samruddhi” for my husband as he truly is, “Budding competent
Advocate” for me (while I thought I was already a competent advocate ….trust my
mom to give me a reality check! </span><span face=""Segoe UI Emoji",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ascii-font-family: Garamond; mso-char-type: symbol-ext; mso-hansi-font-family: Garamond; mso-symbol-font-family: "Segoe UI Emoji";">😊</span><span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">) Her latest gift has been a hand-embroidered
patchwork bedspread with unique designs on each piece, from geometric shapes to
modified katha work, from traditional art layouts to colourful flower patterns,
with distinctive colour combinations, and beautifully sequenced strands of
threads of various shades….and all I can say is that amma’s embroidered tapestry of brightly coloured
flowers adorning our bed acts as a mood uplifter just like Wordsworth’s Daffodils! <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg4GYRg2CwxZEdXES43cCmctRxfQE9zSpv6Ona9oSAnecXwe2QzQQUH_pVo1BGNaimsy5ryRQP9gbFAQ0hExdRNoTctVs_qit9gcpBG6Y0i2nF4MVkL27hx89wabQgH3--IKtowtlv07PmNAznbkxoJEKCNTXpg8lJ9HmFu-RFBsgT7BMJ05DaU0HRyBg=s1152" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="648" data-original-width="1152" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg4GYRg2CwxZEdXES43cCmctRxfQE9zSpv6Ona9oSAnecXwe2QzQQUH_pVo1BGNaimsy5ryRQP9gbFAQ0hExdRNoTctVs_qit9gcpBG6Y0i2nF4MVkL27hx89wabQgH3--IKtowtlv07PmNAznbkxoJEKCNTXpg8lJ9HmFu-RFBsgT7BMJ05DaU0HRyBg=s320" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgd1IBOVvZfWTQAODF6eY8gBLWAu-ECINvEppmL6BiQ6KXnyiJmHsWI1fbcFIpUvaEtiKzMtVcxHhwoCYuMkfPdSbJBFHkmyQiGUiFyXFqDxGXM4nwwuvvjvWCDBF0JQ3UJBL6NcQGMcgRg3micN-JMtbiO0KM_jMeo2fZMupROaOrAi7Z4ANVOZBUnMA=s4032" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgd1IBOVvZfWTQAODF6eY8gBLWAu-ECINvEppmL6BiQ6KXnyiJmHsWI1fbcFIpUvaEtiKzMtVcxHhwoCYuMkfPdSbJBFHkmyQiGUiFyXFqDxGXM4nwwuvvjvWCDBF0JQ3UJBL6NcQGMcgRg3micN-JMtbiO0KM_jMeo2fZMupROaOrAi7Z4ANVOZBUnMA=s320" width="320" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">So dedicating
this blogpost to my mother’s magical needle and thread work as we celebrated her 69<sup>th</sup>
birthday last weekend in a hybrid mode – while we physically joined her and my father at “Aroha’s
Eco Hill Resort” at Sakleshpur, and her best friends joined in through a zoom
call, with goodies being delivered to their doorstep so that they don’t miss out on
the cake! </span><span face=""Segoe UI Emoji",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ascii-font-family: Garamond; mso-char-type: symbol-ext; mso-hansi-font-family: Garamond; mso-symbol-font-family: "Segoe UI Emoji";">😊</span><span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;"> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj8PI88Snw52K7l4ktgIZmHQIRLJXZDOQLvaGt9644UI0rjykiyTVm9VfoDGXG9Ie2s5xIhITfRgCyPyAAy1l8IpuYzAZuBNHU_lWdzNgvQ1lXksWE0KOQlXpfW108OwP-a1eSwqvFt7KsPAr9drnspqnAljAE-Qi87VGAobSdHd-sQ6U1LFnLnEeXLPg=s4032" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj8PI88Snw52K7l4ktgIZmHQIRLJXZDOQLvaGt9644UI0rjykiyTVm9VfoDGXG9Ie2s5xIhITfRgCyPyAAy1l8IpuYzAZuBNHU_lWdzNgvQ1lXksWE0KOQlXpfW108OwP-a1eSwqvFt7KsPAr9drnspqnAljAE-Qi87VGAobSdHd-sQ6U1LFnLnEeXLPg=s320" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjNRHGY1IyPa8hxPyrvFVMLxZjdxOu27KSgPz2Q7gMLxfn-hxPRnzR5jLaoE0NjQqeedue5MaamQv1UN_rLn5D5-h9DFdCKL0W3kr82Gm7-ZrcR4GIgGkcdY9Wv1siQyOunB39QLZeCNEsIGvCMLCt_w7R0bcr90VNl9Bz6r9i9jVkBMF8NbKCDNTrH0Q=s4032" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjNRHGY1IyPa8hxPyrvFVMLxZjdxOu27KSgPz2Q7gMLxfn-hxPRnzR5jLaoE0NjQqeedue5MaamQv1UN_rLn5D5-h9DFdCKL0W3kr82Gm7-ZrcR4GIgGkcdY9Wv1siQyOunB39QLZeCNEsIGvCMLCt_w7R0bcr90VNl9Bz6r9i9jVkBMF8NbKCDNTrH0Q=s320" width="320" /></a></div><br /><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">Following
the birthday weekend, we had an extended sojourn at our most favourite place in
the world my parents’ farm, “Shristi”, and just as we are about to drive back
to Bengaluru tomorrow, we had the grandmother-granddaughter read together one
of our all time favourites – “<b><i>Grandma Bubba’s warm shawl</i></b>” by
Rijuta Ghate, a publication by Jyotsna Prakashan, which brings out books that have
an old world charm to them! <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Wonderfully written
and illustrated, this book came highly recommended by our friends at the Funky Rainbow,
and has always been one of those books we fall back on for a warm and cosy read, and
it is rather surprising that I haven’t had the chance to blog about it…until
now when it feels perfect for the occasion! <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgjCn_o68phpTs4R-oBwYNszM-ip_atnCtiuR6okvvmOjg6UHSk-nNYn_uejLfUWnpZ9BpY52snzFlsPMQ4MAjRdDz4DRCSMl148y1w10CJXuSEyzBjM7xTPpqlTq_2oRHjIftRZ8o6Zi43XmmQzouYKlLQYlyH9SkC38z96hZwScQ-1QOWmLUYCb7LoA=s4032" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgjCn_o68phpTs4R-oBwYNszM-ip_atnCtiuR6okvvmOjg6UHSk-nNYn_uejLfUWnpZ9BpY52snzFlsPMQ4MAjRdDz4DRCSMl148y1w10CJXuSEyzBjM7xTPpqlTq_2oRHjIftRZ8o6Zi43XmmQzouYKlLQYlyH9SkC38z96hZwScQ-1QOWmLUYCb7LoA=s320" width="320" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">Grandma Bubba
lived in the far away mountains and took good care of her flock of sheep. As
winter approached, grandma Bubba decided to knit herself a bright red shawl from
her sheep’s wool that she’d dyed red from beetroot pieces. Just then, her
grandson comes running to her asking for a bright red sweater and a bright red sweater was ready in no time! So every time grandma Bubba dyed her
wool green using spinach leaves, or purple with purple cabbage, or yellow through
turmeric, or blue turned by indigo, each of her family member comes in with a
request for a cap, or muffler or a pair gloves or a pair of socks and grandma
Bubba is only too happy to oblige! So the entire family is kept warm during
winter by grandma Bubba’s knitted creations and did grandma Bubba finally knit
herself a shawl ?.... Read on to find out how grandma Bubba’s love for her
family brought out the most colourful shawl that there ever was! A wonderful feel-good
story that echoed my mother’s sentiments as her embroidered creations adorn our
lives and fill our hearts with warmth and love! <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjAM-JEdUuvvy7kEh3w3Gxtd2WNLVgGPKpnZzjhH9XMuKURgXSNiNQRrIlgQX20Q_kHr5OcgJpKNYb-i6MpZuULtND0MOjvv0w4PUX64QCnryEBKDQ1nGxSqSbc2MLMrSdhBrQtWI6kHgVN_MTLB0BinbxKaJF5nnlIHgbRgrTJuAZuAOJO8miYwqbZDg=s1032" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="581" data-original-width="1032" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjAM-JEdUuvvy7kEh3w3Gxtd2WNLVgGPKpnZzjhH9XMuKURgXSNiNQRrIlgQX20Q_kHr5OcgJpKNYb-i6MpZuULtND0MOjvv0w4PUX64QCnryEBKDQ1nGxSqSbc2MLMrSdhBrQtWI6kHgVN_MTLB0BinbxKaJF5nnlIHgbRgrTJuAZuAOJO8miYwqbZDg=s320" width="320" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span><p></p>Divya Purandarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05911167122943608188noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8864856854860837340.post-20370373705269695522022-01-29T13:40:00.004+05:302022-01-29T22:14:49.607+05:30Quarantine times! <p> </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">I began
this year like every year with a new year resolution to blog more often, but didn’t
expect to follow it up in the same month itself (it never happens!). Similarly
we all hoped to embark on 2022 putting the horror of Covid-19 behind us, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>but didn’t expect the pandemic to catch up with
us so quickly, and in such a lightening speed so as to have the <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>hitherto untouched/uninitiated / uninhibited caught
unaware! <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Neither did we all expect to
test Covid +ve at a time when we (read.. I) have been indoors for the past three weeks nor did we even anticipate that the illness would first hit my father-in-law when he hasn’t stepped outdoors
in the past whole year!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well….it hits you when it hits you is all I
can say as we got sealed into isolation as a COVID HOME last week! <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">After being
locked in through the first wave, and braved the second wave, we couldn’t after
all escape the milder version of the pandemic that had engulfed the city as a third
wave, which is now on a decline just as we at home find that the worst is now
behind us. From acute fever and exhaustion to slight temperature and weakness,
from continuous to sporadic bouts of cough, each of us reacted to the virus in
our own way, convalesced as our own body and mind allowed us to and recovered
in our own pace …….thankfully all at home. With four of us being co-vaxined and
covi-shielded from the severity of the infection, this variant has left us drained
mentally more than physically, paling us into a general sense of gloom and
dis-spiritedness…as quarantine can turn even the quiet into the querulous!! </span><span face=""Segoe UI Emoji",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ascii-font-family: Garamond; mso-char-type: symbol-ext; mso-hansi-font-family: Garamond; mso-symbol-font-family: "Segoe UI Emoji";">😊</span><span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">Well….the
best way to bring some cheer back into our lives is to have happiness delivered
to our doorstep <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>by none other than “Funky
Rainbow” our favourite indie book store of South Bangalore. No sooner did the little
gems get delivered than did our happiness quotient in the household begin to rise! <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Quarantine times can also be a period of
emotional upheaval for us as a family as we grapple with the physical symptoms of
the illness with willpower and emotional strength and what a better way to
remember these trying times than this wonderful book that’s not only makes for a
great read aloud book for children but also enables us to reflect on our
emotions as adults. <b><i>“Are your emotions like mine?” </i></b>by <i>Chitwan
Mittal </i>and <i>Shruthi Hemani</i> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>is
narrated by a little girl trying to understand what she feels every day from
excitement to anger, from feeling silly to feeling nervous, from being proud to
being adventurous! There are a host of emotions that we experience and reading
about it not only serves as an acknowledgement of our own feelings but also a
step forward in trying to understand and get comfortable with what we feel, why
we feel and how we feel and express our emotions. Aided by brilliant illustrations
, the little girl and her lion’s journey into their emotions was an instant hit
with my little girl who couldn’t resist drawing her own version of what she
feels! Here's to our emotions! <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh5bEemkjCONS_lWuDfDzkWrF4VI1CcJG7F1Y45AlOCARvOny0XP7kGHcOLoOjxqwgbt9eUOG2WsrxfKvs0H8NZDUknhWKrplfLdxqjbXr9X8NWlVwNCPUFSsDyVsDG6bm9u2WzTBi1dt6j866Dan7I61MQkf5ay2maN7a-MhFOQwbMOwqgMK57OpbASQ=s3953" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2592" data-original-width="3953" height="210" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh5bEemkjCONS_lWuDfDzkWrF4VI1CcJG7F1Y45AlOCARvOny0XP7kGHcOLoOjxqwgbt9eUOG2WsrxfKvs0H8NZDUknhWKrplfLdxqjbXr9X8NWlVwNCPUFSsDyVsDG6bm9u2WzTBi1dt6j866Dan7I61MQkf5ay2maN7a-MhFOQwbMOwqgMK57OpbASQ=s320" width="320" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span><p></p>Divya Purandarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05911167122943608188noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8864856854860837340.post-41113835773203457722021-11-01T00:53:00.003+05:302021-11-01T10:16:27.112+05:30Memories - Renewed and our Indian Jack-O'-Lantern! <p> </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">I wouldn’t
be wrong in saying that books also serve as memory boxes for some of us. Some
books are held closer to your heart than others, either because of their
literary value or because of your memories associated with them - some books may
evoke memories of your own childhood, or the early childhood of your son or
daughter, or reminiscent of your state or mind or your situation at the time of
reading the book and pulling it out from the bookshelf affords you a chance to
look back and reflect on those times. For instance, I happen to read Harper Lee’s
“<i>Go set a Watchman</i>” soon after the birth of my daughter in the year 2015 and while
the book was indeed a disappointment, a mere glance of the book’s cover takes
me back to my own frame of mind and insecurities that I had harboured about whether
I will ever be able to get back to work with the responsibility of two kids! <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some
books are a throwback to the happy memories of the past that makes it harder to
let go …. and its not unusual to be on the lookout for someone you believe is
worthy of your memory box..isnt it? </span><span face=""Segoe UI Emoji",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ascii-font-family: Garamond; mso-char-type: symbol-ext; mso-hansi-font-family: Garamond; mso-symbol-font-family: "Segoe UI Emoji";">😊</span><span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">We were
delighted to be the beneficiaries of what must have been a treasure trove of
memories from my mother’s cousin who was looking to hand over a wonderful
collection of books that they had enjoyed with their kids back in the eighties.
So joining our already overflowing collection of books, meet the newest member
of Aadya’s books shelf – the well known “The Childcraft series” and we are glad
to have this set of 15 books as a companion for Aadya during her growing up
years. Thank you Mr. Suresh Rao and Mrs. Nirmala Rao for this marvellous collection! </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoENg9dTC8j_dh2BDwQJvsxMdCqN3WLVDFEA_QFqR4vwZwvqoPDTEev8GDVwGAY1F_5kgjI6ZjOBEDeHwfHrGrz9x62aysBmZK_tZLam2hCJw8oe910maK6qLSYmINVNElVYWhlpsDzxfh/s640/IMG_3175.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="480" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoENg9dTC8j_dh2BDwQJvsxMdCqN3WLVDFEA_QFqR4vwZwvqoPDTEev8GDVwGAY1F_5kgjI6ZjOBEDeHwfHrGrz9x62aysBmZK_tZLam2hCJw8oe910maK6qLSYmINVNElVYWhlpsDzxfh/s320/IMG_3175.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">As Aadya dived into the series, one of the stories had me relive our
good old "<a href="http://divya-onestoryaday.blogspot.com/2010/" target="_blank">Portland days</a>” that now seem like another era! <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Garamond, serif; font-size: 14pt;">In fact,
thanks to Beverly Cleary, we also developed a renewed interest in the all-American Halloween! Though Halloween has been part of Abhay’s early childhood in the
US and the same continued in Bangalore thanks to events in the Hippocampus
children’s library, Aadya has had almost no exposure to Halloween and she had</span><span style="font-family: Garamond, serif; font-size: 14pt;"> no idea what she was in for or rather we had no clue what it would entail for us </span><span style="font-family: Garamond, serif; font-size: 14pt;">as we turned the pages of Volume no.2 “<i>Time
to Read</i>” of the <i>Childcraft </i>series to “<b><i>The Night of Jack-O’-Lantern</i></b>”. Part of
the novel “<i>Ramona and her father",</i> this a wonderful story that introduces the curious
and cheerful protagonist, Ramona Quimby whom Aadya fell in love with. Of course,
Beverly Cleary’s characters of Ramona and her older sister Beezus have been popular
with the American kids, particularly in the State of Oregon, the author’s home
state, but its been a while since I came across any of Beverly Cleary’s stories
and Ramona’s naughty innocence, the rebellious attitude of her adolescent
older sister amidst the usual ups and downs in a middle class American family made
for a refreshing read. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Garamond, serif; font-size: 14pt;">The story begins with Ramona’s earnest attempt to
diffuse the grouchy atmosphere at home with her own brand of humour, much to
everyone’s chagrin. Patience seems to be in short supply on the given day with
everyone snapping at each other, but as Ramona helps bring up the giant pumpkin
lying in their basement, the entire family excitedly comes together to carve the
Halloween harvest, and soon each of them including their pet cat, add their own personal touch to make the wickedest Jack-O’-Lantern in the whole world! A
beautiful feel good story revolving around relatable family situations, laced
with subtle humour and stimulating illustrations makes for smooth and relaxing
read…and has us begging for more from the world of Qimbys!</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">Needless
to say, we have had a renewed interest in Halloween this year and Aadya’s fascination
with Jack-O’-Lantern has us (read the daddy!) carve out our very own Indian Jack-O’-Lantern! Happy Halloween! <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyeYvrJv9S_-T_9YNf5m20xn5dzx4xNKyqOLBjqFcDCXnCTQ-iKTGA3tS1U8wqGvo4alRXlH1PGGkgi3oKuRkDV8Do7Qtdpdnjq7-DgYujlutd6HMfEoP1X3d9fTSUnV4sKsoflmsJr_Th/s640/IMG_3158.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="480" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyeYvrJv9S_-T_9YNf5m20xn5dzx4xNKyqOLBjqFcDCXnCTQ-iKTGA3tS1U8wqGvo4alRXlH1PGGkgi3oKuRkDV8Do7Qtdpdnjq7-DgYujlutd6HMfEoP1X3d9fTSUnV4sKsoflmsJr_Th/s320/IMG_3158.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicXV9LHyMIp4chJkxiArRvkwdZi-9jzQMljHczqiXq6ss7Hz_B0mGLzI2ier3V7J8Vqss9to8bNqUkV2dFdPfO1S35T_lUBN6PTe67EJxDg5quls6Zj3cb1yKdP0uuIGfn5-JsWKkbOxjb/s640/IMG_3172.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicXV9LHyMIp4chJkxiArRvkwdZi-9jzQMljHczqiXq6ss7Hz_B0mGLzI2ier3V7J8Vqss9to8bNqUkV2dFdPfO1S35T_lUBN6PTe67EJxDg5quls6Zj3cb1yKdP0uuIGfn5-JsWKkbOxjb/s320/IMG_3172.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUuExPJ2iJAgzXWch6IAQuL2IQsLjq22S0-WUoAbJOmTSjMUAYdFbe47WEylY4pQYL67ZMZ0T9HDg_ePP9naDkqogYBdmggfqHgl0jJztyeWeiEpLN78nvFwuKa2lGTZe2q4WoiE5qNpN5/s1599/6baf36ae-a757-4855-9ff2-52fb907f8a35.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="899" data-original-width="1599" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUuExPJ2iJAgzXWch6IAQuL2IQsLjq22S0-WUoAbJOmTSjMUAYdFbe47WEylY4pQYL67ZMZ0T9HDg_ePP9naDkqogYBdmggfqHgl0jJztyeWeiEpLN78nvFwuKa2lGTZe2q4WoiE5qNpN5/s320/6baf36ae-a757-4855-9ff2-52fb907f8a35.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;"> Halloween Illuminations!</span><p></p>Divya Purandarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05911167122943608188noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8864856854860837340.post-50573727276859119942021-09-27T00:00:00.007+05:302021-09-27T00:02:31.875+05:30Our Girl! <p> </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">As I
browse through some of my earliest blogposts almost a decade ago, I find that
an oft repeated reflection on my part has always been “I wish I had a daughter”
and such a longing was borne out of a desire to enjoy reading books that my
pre-schooler was quick to dismiss as “girlie books”! Now that I have a
daughter, we do revisit some of the books that hadn’t impressed my son then and
now seem to be a big hit with my daughter, just as I had thought so! Well….not a
day a goes by without feeling thankful for the pure joy of having a daughter
and how blessed we’ve been with the arrival our little girl! Her indefatigable energy,
perceptive and sensitized nature, generous and caring spirit have enriched our
lives in so many ways that we could never imagine! As a daughter myself, I have
always and still do share an extremely close relationship with my mom and without wishing
to sound cliched…my mom has always been and continues to be my 'BFF' and vice-versa!
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As the saying goes…God could not be everywhere
and therefore he made mothers….as a natural corollary I can say that God made
daughters so that they can be their mothers' best friends! Hoping to share the
same relationship with my little girl! <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP5Gy3-0-K491YDJnLL_OEd6cBUB9wyxeBV2nOidCpDy1ObUYfjsr4qJB-wNIWep1bKhNGSnkj14P3NmMM9SUO-Ys_mwtcKuJyGMoClthTtUHlBWFIC3qVvXlf2Vyu4V0ZUO6iBgI5GwHC/s2048/IMG_20210926_231528__01.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1694" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP5Gy3-0-K491YDJnLL_OEd6cBUB9wyxeBV2nOidCpDy1ObUYfjsr4qJB-wNIWep1bKhNGSnkj14P3NmMM9SUO-Ys_mwtcKuJyGMoClthTtUHlBWFIC3qVvXlf2Vyu4V0ZUO6iBgI5GwHC/s320/IMG_20210926_231528__01.jpg" width="265" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">On the
occasion of daughter’s day, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>we read a
book by one Abhay’s <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>all-time favourite authors,
the award winning Anthony Browne, whose books we would regularly borrow from the
British Library almost a decade ago! “<b><i>Our Girl</i></b>” is quintessentially
Anthony Browne in terms of narrative style, wit, visual-word interplay, pastel backdrop, water-colour style illustrations which makes it a truly perfect read
for today. The books opens to a sweet little girl with a wide smile –“She’s
lovely, our girl”… an goes on to celebrate “<b>our girl</b>” – a great goalie, brilliant
swimmer, loves to draw, dress up and pretend play, alternates between quiet and
loud, starts off as a busy bee and ends up as sleepy puppy, fierce as a fighter yet charms her way with her beautiful smile…..we love our girl and will always do…..a
wonderful tribute to daughters everywhere! Happy daughters day to all our girls!
<o:p></o:p></span></p>Divya Purandarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05911167122943608188noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8864856854860837340.post-57290824642678690102021-07-01T22:56:00.000+05:302021-07-01T22:56:18.152+05:30The magic of music! <p> </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Music
has always been an integral part of our lives and while being ardent followers
of Carnatic music, we as a family have been enjoying a wide range of Indian music
– from Carnatic and Hindustani music to devotional bhajans, from Kannada Sugama
Sangeetha to ghazals and film music, besides tuning in to a few popular genres
of western music from time to time. While there’s some music playing on one
of our devices at all times, it is mostly Carnatic music that dominates our
household. So much so, it’s a family joke that our house might as well be
branded as the “FM Amruthavarshini house” , with Indian classical music
reverberating from every corner of our house as the FM 100.1 (<i>The Indian
classical music channel<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>of All India
Radio Bangalore</i>) plays on the multiple radios tuned in - on the ground floor at
the kitchen, on the first floor in one of our rooms, and at the terrace balcony
on the second floor…..All thanks to my renewed obsession with Carnatic music!
Anybody visiting our home or calling in between 6 Am to 9.30 Am in the mornings
and between 6PM and 11 PM in the evenings is sure to be treated to some
brilliant music in the background, and any such conversation in person or over
phone is forced to compete with <i>Sudha Raghunathan’s</i> rendition of “<i><span style="color: red;">Raaga
Sudharasa</span></i>” or <i>Bombay Jayasri’s</i> “<span style="color: red;">Krishna nee begane baaro</span>”! (<i>I know it’s not
fair but I just cannot bring myself to turn off the radio when FM Amruthavarshini is on) </i> Since Abhay has been training for
Carnatic vocal for some time now,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have
resumed my own training after a long hiatus, and my little one a recent newbie
in Carnatic music, our dinner table conversations often tend to be paused (<i>Mind
you, it’s never an interruption!</i>) over identifying a raaga or noticing the
structure of the “Kalpanaswaras” playing on the radio! Well, that’s when my
exasperated husband asks if <i>Yesudas’s</i> rendition “<i><span style="color: red;">Vataapi Ganapathim</span></i>” needs to
be a part of the discussion on our plans for the next day! </span><span style="font-family: "Segoe UI Emoji",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ascii-font-family: Garamond; mso-char-type: symbol-ext; mso-hansi-font-family: Garamond; mso-symbol-font-family: "Segoe UI Emoji";">😊</span><span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpx-tWp8kJBRZCOgXtJ1WKOaaSaq3t-uP0UznwOPTTYUitLlGSIRDzSigD2kGNVZ1wXge6k1vFJiwHAUi1ieIBA0n6i0HxKM6AAv2SKh_VSAfuhKFA3n6PwuGJcq-oDZV8qKMvqpQkIRle/s2048/IMG_20210628_210652.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1152" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpx-tWp8kJBRZCOgXtJ1WKOaaSaq3t-uP0UznwOPTTYUitLlGSIRDzSigD2kGNVZ1wXge6k1vFJiwHAUi1ieIBA0n6i0HxKM6AAv2SKh_VSAfuhKFA3n6PwuGJcq-oDZV8qKMvqpQkIRle/s320/IMG_20210628_210652.jpg" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjArPARe7gIOYxiFe4t7fFAOpzC9QIX1ZbPzbdX_rcmAlggkjwKE7TRtWDV4p3m1LxCoharJ0fMd69fttAIJjlV-Pf2vc59DLolo3S59kVye4LCluZ2QjpvHZJL-itasrZXY6VWz6eNU4nK/s2048/IMG_20210628_210720.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1152" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjArPARe7gIOYxiFe4t7fFAOpzC9QIX1ZbPzbdX_rcmAlggkjwKE7TRtWDV4p3m1LxCoharJ0fMd69fttAIJjlV-Pf2vc59DLolo3S59kVye4LCluZ2QjpvHZJL-itasrZXY6VWz6eNU4nK/s320/IMG_20210628_210720.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">So when the previous week’s Saturday Buzzar of <a href="https://www.funkyrainbow.com/" target="_blank">Funky Rainbow</a> brought up this book on the
occasion of World music day earlier last week, I knew I had to lay my hands on this one and sure enough this book has been the <i><span style="color: red;">raagam-tanam-pallavi</span></i> of this
week’s reads! If my little one loves the book, it’s becomes a family favourite
almost immediately with everyone being asked to read to her – from parents and
maternal grandparents to her older brother and this book has indeed appealed to
everyone who has read to Aadya. Inspired from the early years of Annapurna
Devi, the famous sitar player and daughter of Allaudin Khan, the royal court
musician at the court of Maharaja of Maihar in Madhya Pradesh, “<b><i>The Magic in My
Fingers”</i></b> a <i>Karadi</i> <i>tales</i> publication by <i>Nandita da cunha</i> (a pianist herself)
and illustrations by<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i>Nayantara
Sundrenath</i> and <i>Kanimozhi A , </i> is an endearing tale that is as much a story of
sisterly love as it is about the discovery of an innate talent heralding an illustrious
musical journey. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Aayan is
once again late for his music practice, much to Baba’s chagrin. Before Baba
loses his patience at his truant son, his younger sister Roohi steps in to search
for Aayan who seems to be more interest in pots and pans than the practice of
Sitar. Roohi cant afford to have Aayan upset Baba which would then ruin her
chances of a new kite that Baba had promised to buy from the market. But
Roohi’s chances of making her father proud of her as she plans to win the
kite-flying competition with the new kite, diminish by the minute as Baba heads
out looking for his errant son, with a cane in hand. So Roohi hits upon a
brilliant but highly risky idea to distract her Baba and soon to her delight
and to the shock of her father, she discovers the magic in her fingers, and
that indeed makes her father swell with pride! Aided by wonderfully striking
illustrations, we love this book as its works on so many levels- from the very
relatable reluctance to music practice (<i>I deal with it every day!</i>) to the wonder
of a prodigious talent, from the intuitive understanding of a sister of her brother's mind to the discovery of one’s true potential and of course the
exhilarating power of music! A must buy for any music loving family! <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>Divya Purandarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05911167122943608188noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8864856854860837340.post-48755920206786787112021-05-30T22:24:00.002+05:302021-06-07T18:13:59.065+05:30Aadya hits a six! <p><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">The only
advantage in having a huge gap between your two kids is that as parents, you can
still enjoy the endearing years of early childhood of your little one while
suffering through the awkward adolescent years of your older one! You can still
hold on to the innocent and tender moments with your little one just as you try to let go of your older one asserting his own way of doing things. Just
like your return from work earlier than usual is sure to be a pleasant surprise
for your little one and probably an unpleasant one for your older one! </span><span face=""Segoe UI Emoji",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ascii-font-family: Garamond; mso-char-type: symbol-ext; mso-hansi-font-family: Garamond; mso-symbol-font-family: "Segoe UI Emoji";">😊</span><span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;"> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well……I’m not sure how long can we rely on
this contrasting relationship between our older one and younger one, as our
daughter is sure catching up with her older brother …. having turned six a
couple of days back! As we were made to relive her last five years through a
heart-warming video put together by the older brother…we couldn’t help wondering……..where
did those six years go…really!!!<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjR6ppG9Qcv3-Ln3dq1-oL8uf3bUqCtAf3YDjvb1jKt4BkBg0Doxlfbe9QAjn1JPr7MNYpbj98uKlhDevSF8oWafsn3H0-OEbvzGtEazd0neF_1TYZK7LvulYyzkgQTd-ju4wdsuqfuBB_c/s1152/9e7a288e-5e4d-4523-ac05-d559e9a03879.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="648" data-original-width="1152" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjR6ppG9Qcv3-Ln3dq1-oL8uf3bUqCtAf3YDjvb1jKt4BkBg0Doxlfbe9QAjn1JPr7MNYpbj98uKlhDevSF8oWafsn3H0-OEbvzGtEazd0neF_1TYZK7LvulYyzkgQTd-ju4wdsuqfuBB_c/s320/9e7a288e-5e4d-4523-ac05-d559e9a03879.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">This was
Aadya’s second birthday celebration during lockdown except that we switched places since the last time, as we continue to operate from
Dharmasthala. Centred around a Disney princess and Frozen-II theme (<i>I know… so
predictably boring</i>!), led by a birthday treasure hunt of gifts <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>which has now become a family tradition, albeit
with many more places to hide this time, followed by a cake-cutting celebration
with a few of our closest relatives living in the neighbouring farms, who were all sportive
enough to participate in an outdoor super-minute game organised by the older
brother turned perfect host….and this time, it was Aadya’s paternal <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>grandparents to join in through video call! </span><span face=""Segoe UI Emoji",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ascii-font-family: Garamond; mso-char-type: symbol-ext; mso-hansi-font-family: Garamond; mso-symbol-font-family: "Segoe UI Emoji";">😊</span><span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYrREofvBo1iYJaGns8alY0OBi4bW2A1-kYtIOLo1VRKIb-NSOyDugF4uyXqxqiNlF3vtOHgma6WSSZn09hh89bIjZAkUg0FCNTR9dhDYbys_p_OyV0ZPxT0MiIUmlOWw6Q9_QSyHzmG1M/s2048/IMG_20210530_101433.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1152" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYrREofvBo1iYJaGns8alY0OBi4bW2A1-kYtIOLo1VRKIb-NSOyDugF4uyXqxqiNlF3vtOHgma6WSSZn09hh89bIjZAkUg0FCNTR9dhDYbys_p_OyV0ZPxT0MiIUmlOWw6Q9_QSyHzmG1M/s320/IMG_20210530_101433.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">No
celebration in Shristi is complete without the farm workers joining in …. more
so when it is the birthday of their most loyal follower in the literal sense, accompanying
them to the plantation, entertaining them <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(unknowingly) during their lunchtime and constantly
buzzing around them all day! So amidst our close family and <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>our farm family, Aadya’s sixth birthday was
truly a memorable one! <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnQhDK6P1_drsw6-YohluYFcIRV1-VULMbvMw7W2UuP0OqcG7SYLVqWkkJmhUL6fptRyqsygBvb1UPYR_bm5MPWPrw6B1RouGgLSdGElWuIa3Wm2-EhZPOYsEOBj5cmFGkTKfq3Ax6SldY/s2048/IMG_20210530_215821__01.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1772" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnQhDK6P1_drsw6-YohluYFcIRV1-VULMbvMw7W2UuP0OqcG7SYLVqWkkJmhUL6fptRyqsygBvb1UPYR_bm5MPWPrw6B1RouGgLSdGElWuIa3Wm2-EhZPOYsEOBj5cmFGkTKfq3Ax6SldY/s320/IMG_20210530_215821__01.jpg" /></a></div><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span></span></p></span><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">A
birthday post deserves a special book and this is by our all-time favourite author who
recently celebrated his eighty seventh birthday a little earlier this month. Though
I haven’t read many stories by Ruskin
Bond to my little one, she best remembers Ruskin Bond from the cover of his autobiography
“<i>Lone Fox dancing</i>” she'd seen me read sometime ago. This time we read an
adaptation of Ruskin Bond’s writing into a picture book format in “<b><i>Happy
Birthday World</i></b>” brought out by Red Panda publications illustrated by <i>Maya
Ramaswamy</i>. Celebrating nature’s wonders narrated through the medium of a
little girl and a boy, this book makes an earnest attempt to impress upon young
minds to be mindful of the environment around them and to appreciate its
various facets- from the sun that shines from dawn to dusk renewing each day as
if it’s born again, the flora and fauna being nature’s gifts, shores swept by
mighty seas that abound great mysteries, freezing ice on the extreme north and
the south that may be a million years old but can be discovered as new. Our
mother earth is full of surprises which the author likens to birthday gifts for
everyone in the world who is willing to share, also stressing the importance of
conserving nature for only then, would we be taken care of <b><i>here, there and everywhere - Happy Birthday
World! </i></b> Happy Birthday, little one…you mean the world
to us! <o:p></o:p></span></p><p></p>Divya Purandarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05911167122943608188noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8864856854860837340.post-63394636070014791852021-05-26T20:09:00.003+05:302021-05-27T11:31:35.162+05:30A walk in the garden!<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">It has
been over month since we drove out of Bangalore to vacation at my parents’ farm
Shristi, at Dharmasthala, and with the extension of lockdown in the State, we are
now looking at getting on with our routine - school, work or probably even court
work, connecting from here. Of course, barring
a few sporadic connectivity issues, we are more than thrilled to be working out
of this serene eco-system that opens up to beautiful views from every window
and look out. From the stunning view of Kudremukh ranges from the terrace on a
clear day, to the glimpse of the colourful asters outlining our garden area
from the balcony, or the panoramic landscape view of our areca plantation from the
veranda, to the sight of the silvery sheet of rain soaking the surroundings, we
are entreated to the nature’s spectacular imagery at every turn and corner. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsiXswN-n3XYadv2ESvMHna5KQzznsKy6cEgHS1sWHzP6-qsiCbehFQJGENKYqXYlzJ7dCUIaqR3K8TTJB2Xdml6gvE3r_eJjciybR8SJQaIQ_SksTwNT5KrYuF3eyiGtd9yEp7mzMF2xO/s1280/d503446f-d92a-4af7-b31b-fc1282e2a03a.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsiXswN-n3XYadv2ESvMHna5KQzznsKy6cEgHS1sWHzP6-qsiCbehFQJGENKYqXYlzJ7dCUIaqR3K8TTJB2Xdml6gvE3r_eJjciybR8SJQaIQ_SksTwNT5KrYuF3eyiGtd9yEp7mzMF2xO/s320/d503446f-d92a-4af7-b31b-fc1282e2a03a.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEis5Ucyb2TuN_jeC4PeEKscRHwDe3mKfftIuezdoim0z_w9vkao9FEy49mhOuS3bYlybAzEG0iNV0I9xLYM0TX1xQ7m4FPTdX2mRvZDR6C7j9qiRuCigsR9RaQNMKAoX_WXLNM_u6BIIfil/s640/IMG_2373.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEis5Ucyb2TuN_jeC4PeEKscRHwDe3mKfftIuezdoim0z_w9vkao9FEy49mhOuS3bYlybAzEG0iNV0I9xLYM0TX1xQ7m4FPTdX2mRvZDR6C7j9qiRuCigsR9RaQNMKAoX_WXLNM_u6BIIfil/s320/IMG_2373.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTfQukvvnAUEZai9qHD-2psFtlko8UilTxya-Uae4MM5-Swda4NqT20TnVxGsbduv2BzD5u4mSdgDU9D5iTvF4XBqJcuwg9WMau9BWVoLZoOZe090uMT7pUD0w_LT-McxENKUDB_p1IH5E/s1152/375ff91c-20e1-44e1-b1a9-5bc51004f7d5.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="648" data-original-width="1152" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTfQukvvnAUEZai9qHD-2psFtlko8UilTxya-Uae4MM5-Swda4NqT20TnVxGsbduv2BzD5u4mSdgDU9D5iTvF4XBqJcuwg9WMau9BWVoLZoOZe090uMT7pUD0w_LT-McxENKUDB_p1IH5E/s320/375ff91c-20e1-44e1-b1a9-5bc51004f7d5.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">What was
meant to be a ten-day summer break has turned out to be an extended vacation of
sorts for me and the kids, and having settled into a slow paced routine here
at the farm, our treadmill-like life in Bangalore now seems like a distant
memory. Except for my husband who has been working full time connecting to his
virtual workspace from here, we have been off our regular routines as the kids have
been on their summer vacation and I have been off duty for most part. Neither
did we nor did my-in laws back in Bangalore expect to stay this long and nor did my parents expect to have us for
this long! </span><span face=""Segoe UI Emoji",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ascii-font-family: Garamond; mso-char-type: symbol-ext; mso-hansi-font-family: Garamond; mso-symbol-font-family: "Segoe UI Emoji";">😊</span><span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">While it’s
been a <i>dejavu</i> for my son who spent last year’s lockdown at his most
favourite place on earth, it’s been a dream come true for my little
one who had always envied her older brother’s extended stays at Shristi. So much so that she has probably even forgotten
that we have a home in Bengaluru! In fact, Aadya’s daily routine here is - cycling around the courtyard, roaming around
our farm, accompanying the cows as they are sent off grazing around our
plantation, taking a stroll in the garden picking flowers, stopping just a bit
to watch the butterflies hovering around the flowers, pulling the vegetables off the vine, pausing
to discover a nest perched on one of the branches, joining her brother in
playing with the pet dogs, regaling the farm workers non-stop with her over-the-top
stories….. and with all this she couldn’t have cared any less for her Grade one
class all set to resume next week! <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnfzv4L_PEyxyfjXDF1ZLP3FG8vuDgFYb1Zvhhyphenhyphen8MdtBtY3ZUxf4vps5pwPJ4F7TR4ltCvFOfwihQf28DxT9hYJ9RJA5eHKMznIUz5nmwiMawjFnTzeG7XrlxsPEoVAsrWwEp8c9cSlhkx/s1152/ba41e60e-5b48-4c61-a334-843320ff0f64.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="648" data-original-width="1152" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnfzv4L_PEyxyfjXDF1ZLP3FG8vuDgFYb1Zvhhyphenhyphen8MdtBtY3ZUxf4vps5pwPJ4F7TR4ltCvFOfwihQf28DxT9hYJ9RJA5eHKMznIUz5nmwiMawjFnTzeG7XrlxsPEoVAsrWwEp8c9cSlhkx/s320/ba41e60e-5b48-4c61-a334-843320ff0f64.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDmg71w9kpDi7Wf7aRMHceneo4K7Tr1B-sUPkrQuwjI7OnLhwkAv2hmD7qb_wlPMtVLdWfkIYA4qSRGsRymgoi0oeBf549IeAxqtd0Fr809T-9hERkkgEFvdZOpj_xFE9AbzAiexVmd-S2/s640/IMG_2361.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDmg71w9kpDi7Wf7aRMHceneo4K7Tr1B-sUPkrQuwjI7OnLhwkAv2hmD7qb_wlPMtVLdWfkIYA4qSRGsRymgoi0oeBf549IeAxqtd0Fr809T-9hERkkgEFvdZOpj_xFE9AbzAiexVmd-S2/s320/IMG_2361.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxgkU0McEACFKrN6nPqG-ZpnZ8N2o9h6jHTsHmawpP6rDpUmRF7MJCLQLdWeKFIgbP8hxe4Na88dZG2LF3zz1VxfYDzbqjAa3ZL4oUkhGQlwN69Xf0crJMOtqEHdhsMZ1d_IOHf4oLmcOR/s640/IMG_2391.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="480" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxgkU0McEACFKrN6nPqG-ZpnZ8N2o9h6jHTsHmawpP6rDpUmRF7MJCLQLdWeKFIgbP8hxe4Na88dZG2LF3zz1VxfYDzbqjAa3ZL4oUkhGQlwN69Xf0crJMOtqEHdhsMZ1d_IOHf4oLmcOR/s320/IMG_2391.jpg" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1jThlBZGyN-qhyphenhyphenXjBo3MZ4k5tmbsfa38ysm5cnd1wW4v-OwiCxUbv1WEcPZH8_B_tMQcQYKNdZNYW7CK9xxbWq9gaZNpGxczX6ZjL-sOk7JzbXrX5k5q0PeMhx-fb_h8Vzl855gDJOd2b/s640/IMG_2381.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="480" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1jThlBZGyN-qhyphenhyphenXjBo3MZ4k5tmbsfa38ysm5cnd1wW4v-OwiCxUbv1WEcPZH8_B_tMQcQYKNdZNYW7CK9xxbWq9gaZNpGxczX6ZjL-sOk7JzbXrX5k5q0PeMhx-fb_h8Vzl855gDJOd2b/s320/IMG_2381.jpg" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">Since
Aadya’s all-time favourite activity is to spend time in our front garden, picking
a wide assortment of flowers for the daily pooja by her father or grandfather
or for the flower vase she happily arranges with the help of her grandmother, or looking at the ready-to-pluck
veggies grown in the garden, I knew she would enjoy Niyatee Parikh Sharma’s garden
series as I’d like to call it. Brought out by <i>tota</i> books, we can’t thank
Funky Rainbow enough for introducing us to Veer’s and Ananya’s green adventures
in “<b><i>The Tomato Thief</i></b>” and “<b><i>The Tomato Flood</i></b>” written
by <i>Niyatee Parikh Sharma</i> and illustrated by <i>Alankrita Amaya.</i> <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGPRg57XQPRa_4K_K2mT0Cg0SwkD5lNoGSqjOLkbdUulTm5FL2NoB6EDT8CMQKrTqkT0c3Idi4S36rj6B7q0HBvF2StuOLubHLQdXPtlFOG7glc0M7_M58UY8hmSI4x45jc3TZkHs9eVqJ/s1152/1bb29a09-8915-4e98-b89f-a41df68e5107.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1152" data-original-width="648" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGPRg57XQPRa_4K_K2mT0Cg0SwkD5lNoGSqjOLkbdUulTm5FL2NoB6EDT8CMQKrTqkT0c3Idi4S36rj6B7q0HBvF2StuOLubHLQdXPtlFOG7glc0M7_M58UY8hmSI4x45jc3TZkHs9eVqJ/s320/1bb29a09-8915-4e98-b89f-a41df68e5107.JPG" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpFudZqFZcUC1l-N8TTW_ZWGtydYVOw0wbeKw6OrtFg6lI9IHrXTwSoW3CMA63hIa-x20_FawczK8JCK8j-rnz_-e9psda8LAE5D0xpgi3mhLPF9vNu1RQl6YWX4P0fa2inLs3ipETIyP6/s1152/4748631e-deb6-4a12-aa1d-d5023482d22b.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1152" data-original-width="648" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpFudZqFZcUC1l-N8TTW_ZWGtydYVOw0wbeKw6OrtFg6lI9IHrXTwSoW3CMA63hIa-x20_FawczK8JCK8j-rnz_-e9psda8LAE5D0xpgi3mhLPF9vNu1RQl6YWX4P0fa2inLs3ipETIyP6/s320/4748631e-deb6-4a12-aa1d-d5023482d22b.JPG" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjterFQeywFL1etDgT9NxlYFKvvMc8x7dBzgPIIyNlr6hs10eFBjHJitqvrN8sf2v0UaIPRJ6__sI28WGZFCOwVpsOag945sO-XYB5SVT2qJ5sNSNVGtU67rKZ-NNEMLVyfVzKyV5d5Q5lR/s640/IMG_2387.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="480" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjterFQeywFL1etDgT9NxlYFKvvMc8x7dBzgPIIyNlr6hs10eFBjHJitqvrN8sf2v0UaIPRJ6__sI28WGZFCOwVpsOag945sO-XYB5SVT2qJ5sNSNVGtU67rKZ-NNEMLVyfVzKyV5d5Q5lR/s320/IMG_2387.jpg" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><b><i><span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">The
Tomato Thief </span></i></b><span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;"> has Veer eagerly
and patiently waiting for the tomatoes to ripe in the green patch in his
terrace garden and just as they seem ready to be picked, they vanish leading
Veer to go on a who-dun-it-expedition, making him interrogate each and every member
and visitor of his household, from his naughty sister Ananya, Baba, Shoba aunty Ramu Kaka, his friends Shreya and Pranav, but
to no avail. Veer even wonders if the aliens and their UFOs had anything to do
with his missing tomatoes! Read on to find out the culprit …who also makes a surprise
appearance on the sidelines of “<i>The Tomato flood</i>” (which was discovered by
Aadya reminding me of Mo Willems’ books that always have the illustrations of characters
of previous books making guest appearances in the later titles!)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHVUmrFbSP9Wnr7Au1TTOHUsGHYCRKOCNsCNOOgBuR8eMGaZEQ4EK-_qWDaHb7dSNU4xbvvuXq07cZSv8cTUPIUTCxRqU4EtmxeoAjw3yUYhh2QiUtW_rVPO25WLvsLuVKVPxebjOpRitA/s1152/3371098f-43d9-4670-ab67-72aff1b36eab.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1152" data-original-width="648" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHVUmrFbSP9Wnr7Au1TTOHUsGHYCRKOCNsCNOOgBuR8eMGaZEQ4EK-_qWDaHb7dSNU4xbvvuXq07cZSv8cTUPIUTCxRqU4EtmxeoAjw3yUYhh2QiUtW_rVPO25WLvsLuVKVPxebjOpRitA/s320/3371098f-43d9-4670-ab67-72aff1b36eab.JPG" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6NUnv1pqamGZWalGXhmA-PgkcZZCAFKNnEBaaZj20tpLxXA1Fpr9GRk-KSOJRQcGSHKzIF67dkbJ52AWxzg-NWMJVNySc7SFNsZ50v4zfRk6aI1ZMZNubzbuLwEJsw_tiGU6EuRifrzfk/s1280/2940e0e2-4e1f-4500-93da-220dccdf3453.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1280" data-original-width="960" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6NUnv1pqamGZWalGXhmA-PgkcZZCAFKNnEBaaZj20tpLxXA1Fpr9GRk-KSOJRQcGSHKzIF67dkbJ52AWxzg-NWMJVNySc7SFNsZ50v4zfRk6aI1ZMZNubzbuLwEJsw_tiGU6EuRifrzfk/s320/2940e0e2-4e1f-4500-93da-220dccdf3453.JPG" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span><p></p>
<p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">In fact,
we live through the likes of “<b><i>The Tomato Flood</i></b>” almost every other
day, with our vegetable garden abundantly sprouting brinjals, okra, snake gourds,
string beans and jackfruits more than we can eat, and we totally empathise with the predicament
of Veer and Ananya’s mother who is forced to churn out every recipe there is in
this planet with tomato as its ingredient….all thanks to Veer and Ananya’s gardening
misadventures. Read this hilarious tale of how Veer and Ananya's family avert a tsumani of tomatoes from their garden! Both the books make for delightful reads and the author beautifully strings everyday occurrences into engaging light hearted stories. We love the playful
yet relatable illustrations that have a sense of continuity in both the books,
and definitely has us begging for more stories from Veer and Ananya’s
household! <o:p></o:p></span></p><br /><p></p>Divya Purandarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05911167122943608188noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8864856854860837340.post-32335133559293630162021-05-09T19:52:00.006+05:302021-05-09T21:51:59.895+05:30Mother's day in lockdown 2.0Just as we had begun to let our guard down in the assumption of a safer and
pandemic-free 2021, it seems like we are back to square one again, with the
onset of a deadly second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic. Apart from the concerns
of health and safety, every day we are confronted with doomsday-spelling local
television channels, horror stories of suffering and the difficulty in finding
hospital beds or shocking casualties on account of shortage of oxygen, and
countless WhatsApp forwards by self-anointed gurus and life coaches on “what to
do and what not to do” during what now seems like a time-warp, with a repeat of
the <a href="https://divya-onestoryaday.blogspot.com/2020/05/mothers-day-in-lock-down.html" target="_blank">2020 lockdown</a> era! Amidst all the surrounding doom and being surrounded by
the constant fear of falling sick, while being confined indoors with continuous
domestic responsibilities, this may hardly be a time a to celebrate Mother’s
day…right? <div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>In fact, it didn’t occur to me until I saw our favourite Independent
Book store, <a href="https://www.funkyrainbow.com/" target="_blank">Funky Rainbow's</a> FB post
on the upcoming “Saturday morning live” Buzzaar with Mother’s day theme, titled
“Mum’s the word”! Having moved to my parents’ farm in Dharmasthala over two
weeks ago, I got to watch the weekly book recommendations revolving around
mothers at the Book Buzzaar with my mother on the eve of mother’s day, and this
was indeed special. As is the norm, the second half of Book Buzzaar featured a
chat with Dr. Tanu Shree Singh, author, psychology professor, founder of FB
group Reading Raccoons, a bibliophile who owns and supports many libraries in
Faridabad and Himachal Pradesh (How we would love to visit a library in the
hills!) Dr. Tanu Shree Singh drew out words of wisdom from her experience and
her book “Keep calm and Mommy on” which was felt like a soothing balm on the
harried and hassled minds of mothers who are trying hard to keep it together and
retain their sanity especially in these troubled times, and frankly, we couldn’t
have asked for a better mothers’ day present! There were a lot of takeaways from
the interesting conversation between the unstoppable Vidya Mani of Funky Rainbow
who is fondly known as Editoramma and Dr Tanu Shree Singh who was spoke from her
professional and personal experience as a mother of two, including how it is
impossible and unreal to live up to the expectation of a “supermom” and not to
stress too much on excelling as parents as it is an evolving journey with its
own highs and lows, laughs and cries, and the key being keeping the line of
communication open. No matter what, its never too late to sit back, reset and
reboot….and to mommy on..! </div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Its also true that we end up empathising with our
mothers a lot more than before after having becomes moms ourselves. There may
have been times during my own turbulent teen years, (which I swear, was nothing
compared to what I am going through now with my teenage son) when I’d sworn
never to follow my mom on certain irritant aspects of her parenting approach,
only to realise that I have unknowingly turned into my mom on those very
aspects! So no matter how old you are…..moms always get to say with glee “I told
you so!” 😊 </div><div><br /></div><div>This year’s mother’s day has been special in the sense that I have
been able to spend quality time with her in her unhurried world of nature walks,
gardening, reading, online shopping, chanting of shlokas in the evening and of
course dishing out delicious ‘oota from our thota” not only for our brood but
also for our large farm family (including our farm workers!) Thank you amma for
having us over!</div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqmfpROjWkXF7LAEY-Z0M6J6iPPX873LLlwHJF9bZemDftmaZP_EgckmZEgomgdjrTmDpysLcqP_lLGQAGjjpdAHkd0Lf8k-jWEYxMBA_5WePGXKciO16HA03OChW1qlypmV57Cm96k0i4/s640/IMG_2347.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="480" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqmfpROjWkXF7LAEY-Z0M6J6iPPX873LLlwHJF9bZemDftmaZP_EgckmZEgomgdjrTmDpysLcqP_lLGQAGjjpdAHkd0Lf8k-jWEYxMBA_5WePGXKciO16HA03OChW1qlypmV57Cm96k0i4/s320/IMG_2347.jpg" /></a>
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On the occasion of Mother’s day, amongst various recommendations from Funky
Rainbow, we read “<b>A Saree for Ammi</b>” a <i>Tulika</i> publication by
<i>Mamta Nainy</i> and pictures by <i>Sandhya Prabhat</i>. As always,
<i>Tulika</i> brings wonderfully nuanced stories from various corners of India
showcasing the unique cultural milieu of the place and it people brought out in
the story and its characters. This vibrantly illustrated Tulika story comes from
a family of weavers in Kota, Rajasthan. Narrated in first person, a little girl
watches her mother weave the most beautiful sarees and sell them in the local
haat (marketplace) but never don any of them and decides to find out why. The
innocent little girl that she is, she is left puzzled with her mother’s reply
“<i>If we keep sarees, how will we eat?</i>” So she persuades her sister Sadaf
to help her gift their Ammi a sari which had taken Ammi almost a month to weave.
From breaking open their gullaks (piggy-banks) to doing odd jobs for Amina
Khala, read on as the siblings embark on their heart-warming adventure to fund
their special gesture for their loving Ammi! A touching tribute to a child’s
love for their hard working mother, beautifully complemented by the
illustrations that bring alive the bright hues and designs of the handloom
weaves, and vividly portray the environment, community life and culture of the
traditional weaving community life in Rajasthan ...... making it a delightful
read on Mother’s day! Happy Mother’s day to all the mothers!
</div>Divya Purandarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05911167122943608188noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8864856854860837340.post-193073747336871412021-05-03T22:41:00.001+05:302021-05-04T13:22:48.933+05:30Red Shoes! As I browse through some of my earliest blogposts almost a decade ago, I find
that an oft repeated reflection on my part has always been “I wish I had a
daughter” and such a longing was borne out of a desire to enjoy reading books
that my pre-schooler was quick to dismiss as “girlie books”! Be it the Fancy
Nancy series, or the Knuffle Bunny (which I though admit my son enjoyed too!),
or books with little girls as protagonists fascinated with what is ordinarily
termed as girl-specific choices, I found myself yearning for a daughter to read
to! Now that I have a daughter, while we enjoy reading the very same stories
that Abhay was not so enthusiastic about, I haven’t been able to chronicle our
experiences on Onestoryaday as often as I wanted to. Of course, there are other
trappings of having a daughter which I didn’t foresee, some of which can prove
to be expensive affairs along with the way! (Of course, boys too have their own
fetishes that aren’t exactly easy on the pocket!) For instance, our little
five-year old fashionista already has the most number of footwear in our house;
Our little style icon is too fastidious about how her clothing, the choice of
colours, matching accessories, hairstyles, etc; Our little fashion expert is
also the first one to compliment someone on their outfit, or their hairstyle, or
a striking accessory! She has even complimented our maid on the colour of her
sari! 😊
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So as I was browsing through the shelves of Sankar’s bookstore at Rangashankara
recently, I knew I had found a likely favourite in “<b><i>Red Shoes- A dazzling
journey</i></b>” by Karen English and illustrated by Ebony Glenn. Malika is fascinated
by the dazzling red shoes she sees perched on the pedestal on the shop display
and tries to get her nana to buy them for her to As they return home, Nana
unwraps the surprise and Malika cant take her eyes off the red shoes nestled
amidst the tissue paper. From then on….red shoes become highlight of every one
of Malika’s outing….at her aunt’s wedding or Nana’s Christmas party or playdate
with her best friend Kiesha….Mallika goes click-clack-clack all the way in her
red shoes, which is witness to many of her mischiefs, fights and her growing up
experiences, including Malika’s desperate attempts to fit into her favourite red
shoes that sadly now seem small for her….prompting nana to give them away to be
resold at a Resale-Thrift store. As she bids farewell to what has been a
significant part of her growing up, she can’t help but wonder a few days later
as to where her red shoes are………read on to find out the dazzling journey of the
red shoes in spreading joy and good cheer amongst the little girls who don them!
Narrated in simple text and partly in verse format, and illustrations
beautifully enhancing the reading experience, this book can take you back to
your prized possessions of your childhood too! Needless to say…Aadya loved it
and has already petitioned for red shoes to be added to her ever growing
collection!
I remember many years ago, before having graduated to being parents,
we were flabbergasted at seeing a newly furnished walk-in wardrobe exclusively
for shoes that our older cousin had got done for his teenage daughters and we
swore never to fall for something like that, if at all we had a daughter! Now….
we are already thinking of something like that ….and our daughter is not even a
teenager! 😊
Divya Purandarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05911167122943608188noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8864856854860837340.post-5623078572083677022021-03-30T00:17:00.012+05:302021-03-30T15:50:37.230+05:30One year of online class! “<i>Wiggling my fingers and saying the prayer….raising my silent hand and unmuting myself, taking the cookie from the cookie jar” (an interactive game played in the online class)… “these are a few of my favourite things of online class</i>” was what my five-year old had to say at her online graduation day at the end of this year’s online academic year. For most students, the 2020-21 academic year will go down in history as a school year sans even single visit to school. The usual school routine of getting the kids ready, packing lunch boxes and dropping them at the school bus pick up point seems to have happened in the distant past which we don’t seem to relate to anymore! Instead, we’ve become complacent (read as lazy!), optic-driven, and adept at an eleventh-hour focus on only what is captured on the webcam! All this has indeed taken a toll on our kids’ attitude and attention towards learning and school, especially the younger kids who find the online format to be a restrictive medium. Frankly, I don’t blame Aadya for her being not-so-enthusiastic about her thrice a week online class. Groggy and yawning through most part of the half-an-hour class, my soon-to-be-six-year-old chatter-box is least bit interactive in class and only unmutes herself after being goaded into answering a question. The only time she shakes herself out of her trance-like state is at the end of the class when she repeatedly wishes her teachers “Bye … see you tomorrow” in her characteristic shrill metallic voice, ending up disturbing her brother who is suffering through his own online class in the next room!
That said, we truly commend the efforts of TSA school management and the teachers for their brilliant adaptation to the new format and their sincere efforts in attempting to acquaint the children with the needed math and language concepts albeit through a highly limited medium, while at the same time, ensuring that the screen-time is not too onerous for kids or their parents. We appreciate that the school has indeed managed to cover good ground even with a five-day week of three and half hour’s physical class being replaced with a three-day week of half an hour online class! The school also made sure that the children don’t miss out on special events like talent week or the festival celebrations, all conducted online. Of course nothing can compare to the reserving of a seat in anticipation for a friend boarding the next stop on school bus or vying for the first turn on the slide during the school play hour or admiring a fellow classmate’s new pencil box while making a mental note to convince parents to buy you one or hoping your classmates shares her paneer parathas during lunch hour…all an integral part of the school life that we hope to gain back at least during the second half of next academic year ….fingers crossed really!
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjugLRQgCOPQTv1FZhdgZ0RTinu9ZLnK-WjAjKN48WR3STk2G2Pg5E0QOVP1E3INpasTGba1S8cIV-d9KKSC83-SMc3OZSLvuHmLzI9Bo7PFsLpgQKpZu7Au7xNJj74NQ-QPIlU1zdAvySk/s640/IMG_2217.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="320" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjugLRQgCOPQTv1FZhdgZ0RTinu9ZLnK-WjAjKN48WR3STk2G2Pg5E0QOVP1E3INpasTGba1S8cIV-d9KKSC83-SMc3OZSLvuHmLzI9Bo7PFsLpgQKpZu7Au7xNJj74NQ-QPIlU1zdAvySk/s320/IMG_2217.jpg"/></a></div>
While most of our activities are still online or virtual, internet connectivity is the key factor to have a smooth run during one’s online day! What happens if the internet connections snaps…all hell breaks loose, right? A similar situation (though pre-covid times) has been wonderfully captured in Richa Jha’s “<b>The Manic Panic<i></i></b>”, illustrated by Mithila Ananth, brought out by the award winning Pickle Yolk books. However, I’m not sure that it is our generation that is obsessed with screen time as featured by Richa Jha, but I believe it’s the other way around! On most days, everyone in the household is shown to be pouring over a device but when the wi-fi is down, everyone gets restless…everyone except the fitness-obsessed grandma and the young girl who tries to get her parents to break free from their devices in her own way. The young girl coaxes her parents into a digital-detox exercise without having to worry about connectivity and internet, with help from her grandma. The parents mirroring what would normally be the reaction of the device obsessed generation reminds me of the Mo Willems narrative in “Don’t let the Pigeon….” series. Read on as the tables turn and it is up to the younger generation to take charge and re-introduce the older generation into a life without devices, if not for at least a day …. with a funny twist in the end as the girl finds herself in her parents’ shoes! The story is also a feel-good satire on how we let technology/internet/devices take over our lives so much so that it’s hard to fathom a day or even a moment without being attached to any device! A quirky little story that reflects the state of almost every other household these days, particularly during the pandemic, and it all falls on that one family member – the anti-device activist to diffuse the “No internet” panic situation at home! We enjoyed the illustrations as they take the story forward and bring forth the myriad different moods of the parents, grandma and the precocious young girl I had bought this book a while ago to only demonstrate to my older one that I’m not the only anti-device activist in the world, and little did I realise that this book will be a big hit with my little one who somehow sees herself in the young girl! Wi-fi or no wi-fi….here’s to more manageable “manic panic” situations at home !
Divya Purandarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05911167122943608188noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8864856854860837340.post-61780410574306325382020-09-17T23:10:00.011+05:302020-09-18T21:23:41.636+05:30Fourteen already?? <p> </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">Every
year I begin this post with a sense of awe at the fleeting time and how it
feels as if time is racing against itself to make way for this little being
that came out of me to grow <b>bigger,</b> (almost surpassed me in height) <b>bolder</b>
(read audacious), though <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>not <b>wiser</b>
yet! As my son added another turbulent teen year to his adolescent life, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I can only hope for more patience for this
tempestuous tide to ebb in its own flow…whenever that happens! Parenting teenage
kids is like walking on a tightrope, a tough balancing act at that, alternating
between liberal and authoritarian parenting strategies…and this indoors-bound life
where he is logging into from one online class to another, owing to the pandemic isn’t
helping at all! <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">As a <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>follow-up parent, while you may be in touch
with the day to day life of your child, but you also run the risk of having
only transaction based interactions, checking on whether his homework has been turned
in, or whether he’s practiced the new krithi that’s been taught recently, or has
he zeroed in on a topic to speak on his weekly gavel club, or if has he read up
the Child Friendly news article forwarded to his mail and you suddenly realise at
the end of the day that’s you’ve been behind his back all day to accomplish tasks
but have not had a real conversation! Of course, it’s another story that
despite so much follow-up, he still manages to play truant with you (story of my
life right now!) <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">Needless
to say, such interactions can turn into snapping matches especially on days
when you are short of patience, escalating into acrimonious exchanges almost
bringing the whole house down! It is then incumbent on the “good cop” playing
parent to step in and diffuse the situation! Of course, I’m aware that it’s not
an uncommon scenario, especially in households with an adolescent under the
roof, and I’m sure our parents probably felt the same way and for all you know,
years later, you may joke about it over a family dinner with your grown up son
or daughter….but it’s far from being a laughing matter now. Well, people say <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Don’t sweat over small stuff” but its only
when the stuff is behind you…that you realise it was small stuff..right?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Garamond, serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">So Abhay’s
foray into adolescence has been a true test of my endurance and there have been
times when I’m wondering if it’s just teenage trouble or the onset of early menopause…<a href="http://divya-onestoryaday.blogspot.com/2019/09/are-you-wocoteen.html" target="_blank">a la</a> Kamala Das’s poem titled “Middle age)! I understand that my relationship with
Abhay is going through a transition and I do need to hold back my controlling
behaviour…..but it’s takes a mammoth amount of self-control not to peep into
his room to check on whether he is actually logged into his online class or
watching Youtube football videos…or check
for the browsing history on his system …..especially there’s a trust deficit when
it comes to Abhay and devices! And of course……he still doesn’t have his own
cell phone!! I wonder if adolescent girls
are much more malleable than boys during this phase…..….I will realize in
another five to six years from now! </span><span face=""Segoe UI Emoji", sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">😊</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Garamond, serif; font-size: 14pt;">Anyway, we
couldn’t let our love-hate relationship as unpredictable as the weather, cloud Abhay’s
birthday celebrations, now could we? A home-bound celebration for our die-hard FC Bayern Munchen fan….creatively represented in this delicious creamy red velvet birthday</span><span style="font-family: Garamond, serif; font-size: 14pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Garamond, serif; font-size: 14pt;">cake from </span><a href="https://www.facebook.com/search/top?q=bake_mon_reve" style="font-family: garamond, serif; font-size: 14pt;" target="_blank">bake_mon_rev</a><span style="font-family: Garamond, serif; font-size: 14pt;"> which was indeed a
center piece of the day! </span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4juZpepsdiDe7Judj39HgaEpDLIMeWBLu9JMrC5xwoRLDHvpffQKQx4Q4mMN4WQet8rKaJhgvD5FIo6BM5Z4Qm3rkC3EfN5nrfybleeKFpX4cqkpqiAtWBL4hpGKo8cG0TWLPopnEdQcV/s1024/cac586c0-3190-4517-a6d3-e1fce95d057a.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="768" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4juZpepsdiDe7Judj39HgaEpDLIMeWBLu9JMrC5xwoRLDHvpffQKQx4Q4mMN4WQet8rKaJhgvD5FIo6BM5Z4Qm3rkC3EfN5nrfybleeKFpX4cqkpqiAtWBL4hpGKo8cG0TWLPopnEdQcV/s320/cac586c0-3190-4517-a6d3-e1fce95d057a.JPG" /></a></div><br /><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Garamond, serif; font-size: 14pt;">What a pleasant contrast it was from the previous birthday
which was mostly spent in playing the perfect host to Abhay’s school
friends. Celebrations during these times are a welcome change, with the focus more
on ourselves rather than fussing and hovering around the guests all the time!</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiC6_xFteGFz7j9gl681a6E1A1ok28ZjVHFkPk9IvRctGjC4MKdbqwk_Dh8yGmYSyZvlhBJPNtiq3YuhKA3HskFeeiyQ8mPqWOpjeRVA67nBP5KGta0mGzYpgrSuqdND_MmMxu4T05J-jQj/s1152/6ce93706-aeaf-4220-bab3-13c0db9c5e68.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="648" data-original-width="1152" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiC6_xFteGFz7j9gl681a6E1A1ok28ZjVHFkPk9IvRctGjC4MKdbqwk_Dh8yGmYSyZvlhBJPNtiq3YuhKA3HskFeeiyQ8mPqWOpjeRVA67nBP5KGta0mGzYpgrSuqdND_MmMxu4T05J-jQj/s320/6ce93706-aeaf-4220-bab3-13c0db9c5e68.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: Garamond, serif; font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">Anyway,
with the world teeming with child prodigies and kidpreneurs, we have begun to
wonder what would our perpetually playful, sensitive, self-entitled, smart-mouthing
day-dreamer of a teenager do in his life!! So on his birthday, I picked out a teasing
poem from the magnificent collection of tongue-in-cheek poems titled “<b><i>Tickle me, Don’t
Tickle Me</i></b>” by <i>Jerry Pinto</i> brought out by <i>talking CUB</i> publications. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is a book that we bought on a bibliophilic
weekend at Bangalore Lit fest last year. Well….don’t know if we will have one
this year! </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">An anthology specially written for children for “<span style="color: red;">Turbo-loaded,
Triple-Charged Children</span>” filled with laugh-out-loud poems, reflective and contemplative
poems, poems that seek to ask questions from the perspective of children….there’s
even a poem about what happens to children who say that They are Going to fail Their
Exams but stand first”! <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A little
reflection here….and a tit-bit of advice there (though Jerry Pinto will not
want to call it that!) and loads and loads of ROFL moments you are guaranteed
to experience with the quintessential style of Jerry Pinto with equally zany illustrations by Sunaina Coelho ! <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1PNMc21crG5QtQQzJl6vxzjYk2_DZ08XRgsrzRDiZZChdY618822gxj-E3KfVyMX2k8_C_j8SZL1uefcHlfmMpGryF5nXa4mbNw4rdbTWyGJ9UkYG6o-9SAETqqtT5TRV2SMQ6bI6IuQX/s2048/IMG-1634.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1PNMc21crG5QtQQzJl6vxzjYk2_DZ08XRgsrzRDiZZChdY618822gxj-E3KfVyMX2k8_C_j8SZL1uefcHlfmMpGryF5nXa4mbNw4rdbTWyGJ9UkYG6o-9SAETqqtT5TRV2SMQ6bI6IuQX/s320/IMG-1634.jpg" /></a></div><br /><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;"><b><i>“What
do you want to be when you grow to be?</i></b>” is a quirky poem that best reflects Abhay’s
mindset today and here’s an excerpt ….<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;"><b>(Quote)</b></span></p><div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Garamond, serif; font-size: 14pt; text-align: left;">I will drive a taxi<br /></span><span style="font-family: Garamond, serif; font-size: 14pt; text-align: left;">In
Cotopaxi</span></div><div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Garamond, serif; font-size: 14pt; text-align: left;"><br /></span></div><div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Garamond, serif; font-size: 14pt; text-align: left;">I’ll cure disease</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14pt;">With
Greatest of ease. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14pt;">I’ll dance with joy <br /></span><span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14pt;">At
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the Russian Bolshoi. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14pt;">I'll win a Grammy And say, “That’s for Mammy’ (Unquote)
<span style="color: red;">(Love this especially!)</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: Garamond, serif; font-size: 14pt;">……..</span></p>
<div style="line-height: normal; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14pt;">(Quote) I’ll be a watch-maker<br /></span><span style="font-family: Garamond, serif; font-size: 14pt;">Or a lone census-taker<br /></span><span style="font-family: Garamond, serif; font-size: 14pt;">I’ll
be a cake baker<br /></span><span style="font-family: Garamond, serif; font-size: 14pt;">Or a verdant lawn-raker</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Garamond, serif; font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span></div><div style="line-height: normal; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Garamond, serif; font-size: 14pt;">I don’t know yet what I want to do<br /></span><span style="font-family: Garamond, serif; font-size: 14pt;">But whatever I do, what’s it to you? </span><span style="font-family: Garamond, serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="font-family: Garamond, serif; font-size: 14pt;">(</span><b style="font-family: Garamond, serif; font-size: 14pt;"><span style="color: red;">They love to say
that ..dont they?)<br /></span></b><span style="font-family: Garamond, serif; font-size: 14pt;">I’ll
have you know I’m only ten (Unquote) (</span><b style="font-family: Garamond, serif; font-size: 14pt;"><span style="color: red;">or fourteen</span></b><span style="font-family: Garamond, serif; font-size: 14pt;">)<br /></span><span style="font-family: Garamond, serif; font-size: 14pt;">…………..</span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14pt;">(Quote)Whatever I’ll be, Let me tell you
chappy,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> <br /></span></span><span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14pt;">I plan to be ext-urr-emely happy, </span></div><div style="line-height: normal; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14pt;">Whatever I will be,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> <br /></span></span><span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">I</span> will be me. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div style="line-height: normal; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span></div><div style="line-height: normal; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14pt;"><b>(Unquote) </b></span></div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">So Abhay…..whatever you want to
be….just plan to be extremely happy with who you are and what you do! Here’s wishing
you fourteen more adventures this fourteenth year! A small request however….. go a
little easy on your amma! </span><span face=""Segoe UI Emoji",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ascii-font-family: Garamond; mso-char-type: symbol-ext; mso-hansi-font-family: Garamond; mso-symbol-font-family: "Segoe UI Emoji";">😊</span><span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;"> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>Divya Purandarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05911167122943608188noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8864856854860837340.post-89790485198414641482020-08-25T00:58:00.002+05:302020-08-25T12:27:05.587+05:30Working holiday at Shristi<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFExU7P95H2Iy3oN6RY8SHsOj6k9mScGAjMPpfnTXvoQHjaiTWmaUoNJlqcNnJQU5lBeDZ1hr7u8WhoZPRy3QjAY34LgbQOjGiLAyPERcM0-V3EIBqTrRt-Pj9veMC5gr0t91vgSKcfqVs/s640/58c233f4-cc8f-4f58-989b-869fe003610d.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="640" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFExU7P95H2Iy3oN6RY8SHsOj6k9mScGAjMPpfnTXvoQHjaiTWmaUoNJlqcNnJQU5lBeDZ1hr7u8WhoZPRy3QjAY34LgbQOjGiLAyPERcM0-V3EIBqTrRt-Pj9veMC5gr0t91vgSKcfqVs/w400-h400/58c233f4-cc8f-4f58-989b-869fe003610d.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><p><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span face="" style="line-height: 150%;">“<i><span style="color: red;">Raindrops
are falling on my head….</span></i>” has been the song we’ve been singing for the last ten
days as we’ve been enjoying the rainy weather at Shristi, my parent’s farm
house in Dharmasthala in South Kanara. With most of our world moving into an
online format allowing us to remotely connect to work, school and even attending
court hearing through video conference, all from our picturesque plantation
farm! While incessant rains can be a tad depressing during these times in our
confined city home, but the overcast skies, pitter-patter of rains alternating between
a light drizzle to heavy showers, rain soaked lush greenery, the smell of moist
earth, experienced from atop our farm house overlooking our plantation farm is truly
magical! While the day is dominated by the rhythm of the rain, it’s one noisy
party of crickets, praying mantis, dragon flies and frogs at night! With my
parents more than thrilled to host us, little did they realise how we would
transform their quiet rural setting into an online-hub, taking over every part
of the house for our online activities – from online daily school, online Model
United Nations meet during the weekend, and online music class for my
ninth-grader, work as usual with teams/webex meetings for my IT professional
husband, once-a-week online school and online little gym class for my reluctant
pre-schooler, and work related phone calls and court hearing through video conference
for me, along with our laptops, files, books, internet accessories and all the
attendant clutter…..its a full house indeed and we can’t thank my parents enough
for putting up with the madness of it all! </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifzqr9cHyLRTr_CqyWpuFuqglcwuFz4VyJs5Q7iQo_2BOpGF_yhSh-boHVqyaI_YzrLHbk-SrJvL8G78vvabJ43eZMvDlzaJUtx0pJ1JhWx66mFAqQWfk5Vm6GXI9AlaCd90DwxXLQTGH1/s1280/86bfc3f7-7b26-4187-85e6-f3963547b346.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1280" data-original-width="720" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifzqr9cHyLRTr_CqyWpuFuqglcwuFz4VyJs5Q7iQo_2BOpGF_yhSh-boHVqyaI_YzrLHbk-SrJvL8G78vvabJ43eZMvDlzaJUtx0pJ1JhWx66mFAqQWfk5Vm6GXI9AlaCd90DwxXLQTGH1/s640/86bfc3f7-7b26-4187-85e6-f3963547b346.JPG" /></a></div><span face="" style="line-height: 150%;"><br /></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span face="" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But amidst our online lives, we would best remember
this time for our walks in the rain, hopping across the creeks in our farm that
are running full to the brim this season, playing family ludo in the evening, playing
with our pets, feeding the cows, watching web-based family dramas with my
parents, reading at the portico, and gorging on the delicious and wholesome home cooked meals dished
out by my mom, all in the backdrop of the monsoon magic at Shristi! <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYJzrA7q48NElPgVygV7G5iQr_hIDX9SuF4gvJaaqGvYqGZgB54llHGKrkoJs0AS8hBhyyzCZNFozd3NbfUOcXNiTEr42-YnwiECsCHX_WhIKe8ipftEfcmc1ignNrYq-vR2i2YyGSsPSW/s1152/56ea6964-2429-4cc8-8391-943ebee95930.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1152" data-original-width="648" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYJzrA7q48NElPgVygV7G5iQr_hIDX9SuF4gvJaaqGvYqGZgB54llHGKrkoJs0AS8hBhyyzCZNFozd3NbfUOcXNiTEr42-YnwiECsCHX_WhIKe8ipftEfcmc1ignNrYq-vR2i2YyGSsPSW/s640/56ea6964-2429-4cc8-8391-943ebee95930.JPG" /></a></div><span face="" style="line-height: 150%;"><br /></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBvBFdEe-soIwBmkJlLEpUO-bVnAm6cEsud2k5KtX16mXotUzaIYMoxqS9ly-cE_yHApnKzTHVDwoWAFPiYERJcWVbtAkOFurIL-qkk1OJIwOdCziwNknyhOm_yeZsUrzcT_eC_9KgFzJN/s2048/IMG_20200825_082158+%25281%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1152" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBvBFdEe-soIwBmkJlLEpUO-bVnAm6cEsud2k5KtX16mXotUzaIYMoxqS9ly-cE_yHApnKzTHVDwoWAFPiYERJcWVbtAkOFurIL-qkk1OJIwOdCziwNknyhOm_yeZsUrzcT_eC_9KgFzJN/s640/IMG_20200825_082158+%25281%2529.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghHJFLECzDoxUF3o2RywQfTti7EYW2x3NmHMgjENJsZXl1CNpcA_b3elUFOIqIoSNvtgXkk7REivQkYNnrT670VdiHg-G4rAvzF1evX0AUFZpJogJvuqMFcp6zDKuZuwvZjI_AT1RrLg33/s640/IMG_1464.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghHJFLECzDoxUF3o2RywQfTti7EYW2x3NmHMgjENJsZXl1CNpcA_b3elUFOIqIoSNvtgXkk7REivQkYNnrT670VdiHg-G4rAvzF1evX0AUFZpJogJvuqMFcp6zDKuZuwvZjI_AT1RrLg33/w200-h150/IMG_1464.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><span face="" style="line-height: 150%;"><br /></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span face="" style="line-height: 150%;">While Abhay
had spent close to two </span><span face="">months with his grandparents at Shristi during the initial
lockdown phase in March and April, Aadya hardly got to spend time with her
maternal grandparents. Well, she more than made up for it this time - demanded
to be pushed on the swing by her grandpa, loved painting on the stones and chasing
butterflies in the garden with her grandma, basked in her grandpa’s pampering
with chocolates, looked forward to being read to by her grandma and in return
entertained her grandma with her own stories! </span><span face=""> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-z9nXjPyaLcU-PkhymqciYMARa2iB0WkYY_omLODpAbQLtMZR2tBkHkps6neTW3qQXP_34lMiWJcOy1o1pUnXyy-0uspZyZXgfDPoQHbsRMA2fhn2GoFrfnS-LGFBzeDP4jGAxbovTtmA/s640/IMG_1512.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-z9nXjPyaLcU-PkhymqciYMARa2iB0WkYY_omLODpAbQLtMZR2tBkHkps6neTW3qQXP_34lMiWJcOy1o1pUnXyy-0uspZyZXgfDPoQHbsRMA2fhn2GoFrfnS-LGFBzeDP4jGAxbovTtmA/w320-h240/IMG_1512.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><span face=""><br /></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyXnlXG2tvYM6vfY5Lzly6hr4WYXBZjMoo29m5NbmaTC5bCKJ7_B28fSvEUrJGnNFFq5_Smxjbbv5LspEpFPpKxZpolouf0CIGzSnf5Ga6dOQwFzR2zQlXRZCfKEp-uhJ2v_47h2OrQL7l/s1152/25e7da1d-da26-4761-9ba8-84457fe75e55.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="648" data-original-width="1152" height="113" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyXnlXG2tvYM6vfY5Lzly6hr4WYXBZjMoo29m5NbmaTC5bCKJ7_B28fSvEUrJGnNFFq5_Smxjbbv5LspEpFPpKxZpolouf0CIGzSnf5Ga6dOQwFzR2zQlXRZCfKEp-uhJ2v_47h2OrQL7l/w200-h113/25e7da1d-da26-4761-9ba8-84457fe75e55.JPG" width="200" /></a></div><span face=""><br /></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span face="">To celebrate the nature’s bounty at Shristi, I
looked up a Pratham story on storyweaver.org, that was read to Aadya by her
Sanna-ajji, “</span><b style="font-family: garamond, serif; font-size: 14pt;"><i>Chunu and Munu: Let’s sing and dance for nature</i></b><span face="">” a </span><i style="font-family: garamond, serif; font-size: 14pt;">Level
2 Reader</i><span face=""> by </span><i style="font-family: garamond, serif; font-size: 14pt;">Shantdas Manadhar and Shilpi Pradhan</i><span face=""> and illustrated by </span><i style="font-family: garamond, serif; font-size: 14pt;">Abin
Shreshta,</i><span face=""> and translated by </span><i style="font-family: garamond, serif; font-size: 14pt;">Alice Berger</i><span face="">, part of the </span><i style="font-family: garamond, serif; font-size: 14pt;"><u>Chunu
Munu series</u></i><span face=""> revolving around two little girls who go on many an
adventures. Chunu and Munu are fascinated by all the flora and fauna in their
surroundings, – from the joyful jumping of the goat-kid to flowers in full
bloom, from the colourful butterflies during the day to the shimmering fire
flies in the night and they imagine themselves to be butterflies hovering
around flowers or jumping around like the goat kid or flying high above the
mountains </span><span face=""> </span><span face="">like a bird and decide to sing
a song celebrating everyone and everything that touches our lives – from
parents-friends-teachers-village-country to air-rain-flowers thus singing a
hurrah for nature! Though a little simplistic, it is the sheer energy and enthusiasm
of Chunu Munu that makes it worth reading to your little one and introduce her to
nature’s beauty that surrounds us. All thanks to the painstaking efforts of my
parents, our plantation farm is a heavenly rejuvenating retreat from the cloistered life of a
city dweller!</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNK4OS0TYM2AqGkFDzKPeI7rTPDfwj68U-djXElGmoiAtl9DmZA_Rkk-Q9XA0J7OHTyB7CMGpRq_6kjb1Wks0MeZeaPBWavtCohAWzTiGmg4e3CJ3pDYXqMz5Z1qiM9Rl94d9hxtMLfv3I/s640/IMG_1484.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNK4OS0TYM2AqGkFDzKPeI7rTPDfwj68U-djXElGmoiAtl9DmZA_Rkk-Q9XA0J7OHTyB7CMGpRq_6kjb1Wks0MeZeaPBWavtCohAWzTiGmg4e3CJ3pDYXqMz5Z1qiM9Rl94d9hxtMLfv3I/w320-h240/IMG_1484.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><span face=""><br /></span><p></p>Divya Purandarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05911167122943608188noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8864856854860837340.post-47999729217851662632020-07-21T20:24:00.001+05:302020-07-24T17:05:48.716+05:30Our Happy Place! <br />
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<span style="font-family: garamond, serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">Sometimes
it’s the little things that make a big difference to your world. It may be a
beautiful rendition of your favourite song that’s playing on the radio or FB
live program, or a serendipitous occurring, or managing to catch a premiere of the
new season of your favourite show, or a hobby you’ve resumed after years of
lassitude, or a flip-kart buy arriving earlier than expected, or chancing upon a
book that you have been longing to read, or finding a book that your little one
is sure to love and watching her expression as you read it…… its these priceless
moments that make your day and lift your spirits enough to carry you through
the mundane transactional daily life! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: garamond, serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: garamond, serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">One such
mood lifter, happiness dispenser and my very own great escape is a nice little
Indie book store, a travelling book store called “<b>Funky Rainbow</b>”! It is a bookstore
whose presence is ubiquitously found in many public events in Bangalore related
to books and children’s literature. A book store that never fails to excite you
in terms of their vast collection and some like CBT and NBT books that feel like they've been <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>retrieved from your very own childhood
memory. A bookstore run by book lovers who are always full of recommendations from the latest children’s
publications in India. A bookstore that will give you a shopaholic’s guilt as
you can never stop at buying just one book! The travelling bookstore that
makes the long wait at my children’s PTM bearable and no matter how well they fare
at school, I can always take solace in being able to lay my hands on a few good
books in the end (for them!). An indie bookstore we are so glad to have, in South Bangalore! I always look forward to visiting the bookstore and have felt a childlike excitement as we approach the entrance of Nandi Garden,
J P Nagar. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: garamond, serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;"><b>Funky
Rainbow</b> and its team have spared no efforts to popularise reading and books
amongst children and parents alike. Right from organising author visits at
school and book release events during pre-covid days, to Lockdown quizzes, pre-paid book vouchers and <i>Saturday morning live</i> Book Buzaars on Facebook
during Covid times, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Funky Rainbow and
their team have been trail blazers in adapting to the changed circumstances. Here’s
wishing Funky Rainbow and its team of trio a very happy seventh birthday and wishing
many more to come! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: garamond, serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">Today we
read “<b><i>The Happy Place</i></b>”, a Ramya story, a part of the Ramya and Ramu series brought
out by <i>Ms Moochie</i> publications as a part of the <i>Little Book Lovers’ reading series,
</i>of course another one recommended and picked up from “The Funky Rainbow”. Its
obvious that Ramya stories have been quite popular with my little one and we’ve
followed the precocious little Ramya as she took up the cricket bat, donned the
Santa costume for her fancy dress at school and other such adventures. Today we
learn about her Happy place… and how she works hard at building and turning it
around from the dump that it was, enduring all the jeers from her school mates
and braving natural and man-made challenges, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and day by day she watches it grow and delights
in the fruit of her labour to form a pleasant surprise for her loving granny.
Narrated in a limerick-like style by <i>Samatha K</i> and pictures by <i>Chetan Sharma</i>,
this is a lovely read for young children, and an earnest attempt to impress
upon them the pleasures of every-day creative initiatives in order to find your
own little happy place! Funky Rainbow is surely one such happy place of our
entire family....and as Abhay puts it.."Its the Best book store one can dream of having in one's town"! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br />Divya Purandarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05911167122943608188noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8864856854860837340.post-79757962338568643052020-06-02T23:45:00.000+05:302020-06-03T14:50:51.670+05:305-power! <br />
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<span style="font-family: "garamond" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“<i><span style="color: red;">I’m
growing bigger…my birthday is coming!</span></i>” is how my little one shoots back at her
brother when teased about being a baby! While we can’t believe how time has
flown ever since she arrived five years ago, our little princess (I know it’s a
cliched term but she loves it and sure acts like one!) has grown bolder, naughtier
and definitely more assertive in her sibling skirmishes with her older brother!
The eight-year age gap hardly matters as she regularly spars with her older
brother in their territorial wars, so much so that we are left bemused (and a
little nervous) at how confident she is about her own ability to take on her big
brother! That said, she can turn into a baby the next moment, wanting to be fed
and cuddled to sleep like one, when one of her parents walks in! <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While she is definitely a lot more independent
than Abhay was at her age, open to trying out on her own and excited to
experiment with new experiences, Aadya however still latches on to certain activities
that strictly qualifies as being only for babies, like being fed dinner or refusing
to go to bed on her own and its more to do with wanting to be around her mommy
or daddy all the time than about her own capability …….and our 24/7
presence at home owing to the lock-down has certainly not helped the situation! <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Aadya turned five last week and no doubt she
has gotten bigger, but she can no longer hold on to “my birthday is coming”
anymore…..for at least while now and will have to think of another way to smart
mouth her brother! </span><span style="font-family: "segoe ui emoji" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">😊</span><span style="font-family: "garamond" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "garamond" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Since
her birthday falls during the school vacation, we always lament over how she
never gets to celebrate the day feeling special at school and this year we had decided
to have her don her birthday special dress on the school reopening day in the
first week of June. Alas!…. It turns out that it’s not just Aadya but many are
to miss celebrating their birthdays in school this year! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "garamond" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Anyway,
it was very much a birthday in Covid-19 times, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>with a home celebration amidst the members of only
our household with her maternal grandparents joining in through a video-call, and
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>splash of pink and a smattering of a few
princess cut outs available at home, home-made savouries, and a “princess/doll
cake” custom baked by “Bake_mon_reve ” run by a pastry chef who is also a
relative followed by the customary birthday treasure hunt organised by her “Anna”
and <i>the piece de resistance</i> being his part-hand-sketched-part-printed birthday card for his sister
making it even mores special! <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "garamond" , serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">While we
revisited an old book, "<b><i>Its Hard to Be Five</i></b>" <i>by Jamie Lee Curtis and Laura Cornell</i>, that I had read to the big brother on his fifth birthday back
in <a href="http://divya-onestoryaday.blogspot.com/2011/09/" target="_blank">2011</a>, it didn’t enthuse her much and I’m not sure if it’s a ‘girl thing’ not
to be impressed by a whiny five year old boy annoyed about turning five…but when
I happened to stumble upon this wonderful online story at “<i>Storyweaver –
Pratham books</i>” ..I knew I had found the perfect book for Aadya’s fifth
birthday! In fact, “<b><i>With you, Ma”</i></b> by <i>Adith A K </i>and
illustrated by <i>Amalendu Kaushik</i> is too good to be true! I must say Pratham publications have been pioneers, in so far as stories that deal with simple growing-up quirks of children. No matter how usual or unusual is your child's tendency, ..there's bound to be a Pratham book about it and I'm always amazed at how they manage to put out such good content at such an affordable price! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "garamond" , serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">Anyway, in keeping with the Covid-19 times, we went online too, and found this gem of a book <a href="https://storyweaver.org.in/stories/113404-with-you-ma" target="_blank">online</a> at storyweaver.org.in. My little one
always relates to the girl in the book and what are the odds that the little girl
in this book is named Aadya too?! Little Aadya is almost like an extended attachment
to her mother and neither lets her mother out of sight nor wants to venture anywhere
without her ma (I’m sailing in the same boat too!) On a trip to Majuli, where
she is seen literally clinging to her mom through-out the flight-train-ferry journey,
Aadya is introduced to another girl her age, Kim-Kim and her young sister. Though
hesitant at first, Aadya enjoys playing with her new friend Kim Kim, and soon she
is off to tiny little adventures with Kim Kim and her friends, playing in the
rain, splashing water by the river and picking and munching on <i>bugories</i>….all on her
own without having her mother tag along and this experience pushes Aadya to
take baby steps towards the path of self-reliance, much to her mother’s
delight! A great book to nudge your little one into doing things independently! So here’s wishing more <b>5-power</b>
to my just-turned-five year old who no matter what and much to her chagrin, will
always be the baby of our family! </span><span style="font-family: "segoe ui emoji" , sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">😊</span><br />
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<br />Divya Purandarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05911167122943608188noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8864856854860837340.post-42499969286443377362020-05-10T07:54:00.001+05:302020-05-10T07:54:41.773+05:30Mother's day in lock down! <br />
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<span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">If
there’s anyone on the domestic front who is by far the worst affected by the
lock down, it is the mom – be it stay-at-home or part-time/full-time professional
– all are in fact working moms! With “stay home stay safe” being the ubiquitous
mantra these days….home has turned into a workplace, day-care, summer camp,
online-classroom, binge-watching-entertainment centre, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>throwback-mythological-drama-driven-holy space,
a 24/7 eatery all rolled into one – and who’s still responsible for keeping it
together? “<i>Amma..amma</i>” is the constant chatter I hear from my soon to-be-five
year old as I try to write this in between finishing up some pending drafts of
petitions to be filed as soon as regular courts reopen at the end of the
lock down (whenever that is!) As we try to grapple with household chores,
cooking, tending to young kids, (with a little help from our spouses of course)
while working full time/part time at our third party jobs (at jobs when working
from home is possible), blurring the lines that separate work from home thus
robbing us of our distinct identities, all of which now seem to merge into one
– of that of a lock down mommy!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Personally,
motherhood is certainly a joy to take on, but it is also true that motherhood
isn’t all of me and I am pretty sure that I don’t want it to be! But I am also a
little hesitant to admit it, as our culture elevates mothers to a Goddess-like
stature, being the ultimate destination for an Indian woman. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Frankly, I don’t want to be a goddess!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I am only human and I want my own share of
‘bad’ and ‘good’ days as a mommy without having to feel especially guilty about
the “bad’ days! On this mother’s day, apart from all the admiration and
appreciation for the maternal bond, I wish we could be more tolerant and
non-judgemental about the mommy-meltdowns too! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Apart
from being moms, most of us women have our own little happy places untouched by
our mommy-selves that we cherish – be it work or a certain me-time at home, or a
class we enrol into, or a hobby or an activity we take up, or catching up with
our own buddies or a yester-year serial /video/book/ dress we watch, read or wear
just to feel if “that little girl’ is still in us…don’t we? Now suddenly, we
find that the lockdown owing to the COVID-19 pandemic has suspended (albeit
temporarily) everything and our own happy place seems to have been invaded by
our all-pervading identity of being a “mom”! <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m not sure if its only me or <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>is there anyone else who feels the same, if
you do, please give a shout-out so that I know I’m not the only weird one! </span><span style="font-family: "Segoe UI Emoji",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ascii-font-family: Garamond; mso-char-type: symbol-ext; mso-hansi-font-family: Garamond; mso-symbol-font-family: "Segoe UI Emoji";">😊</span><span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">As I
spend the first few hours of mother’s day with my mom at her farm Shristi at
Dharmasthala where we travelled to on a two-way inter-district pass in order to
pick up our son, Abhay who in his own words has had “the best summer ever” away
from home, I now dread having to manage two kids for the rest of the lockdown!
For mother’s day in advance, we picked an old favourite (from one of my own
happy places Kutoohala) “<b><i>I love my baby Because…..</i></b>” a picture
book by <i>Paulina Simons</i> and illustrated by <i>Cassia Thomas,</i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>which almost serves as a reminder for us moms
as to why we are who we are! This delightfully endearing book beautifully
describes the everyday adventures in mommy-hood, the light hearted humour
depicted in the illustrations that are quite the opposite of the narration and
a realistic portrayal of how things actually pan out when you involve young
kids!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is probably the mommy’s wishful
thinking as she says “<span style="color: red;">I Love by baby because ..she
dresses herself. She feeds herself breakfast ..</span>”… and as you can
imagine, the little girl is shown doing her own version of<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“dressing herself and eating breakfast”! The
whole day goes by as the little girl “helps’ mommy with the household chores in
her own way (Seriously, the mommy in the book is too good to be true!) and
despite all the exhaustion, the mother can only feel unending love and warmth
as she cuddles her daughter close at bedtime and ends up falling asleep herself!
Feels familiar…doesn’t it? Happy mother’s day to all mommies! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />Divya Purandarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05911167122943608188noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8864856854860837340.post-68286657487265217312020-04-23T23:45:00.000+05:302020-04-23T23:45:11.348+05:30Year of the weeds - hopefully! <br />
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<span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Today
being <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“World book day”, we realise the value
and importance of books and reading all the more in testing times like these…. Isn't it? Books not only afford a great escape from all the surrounding stress but
also seek to provide answers to our quest of the known and sometimes the unknown
too. The present lock down is a lot more tolerable because… well as they say “we
are the readers”…. and alternating between my own reading and reading many a picture
books to my little one and reading online a YA novel to my son who is away at
my parents’ farm “Shrishti” in Dharmasthala, is what keeps me going for the whole
day! <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I began blogging to share my
reading adventures with my then four year old son who has gone on to develop his
own taste and declared his independence long back in choosing his own genres of
books and authors, without any interference from me. While I find it hard not
to raise an eyebrow over his obsession with the Michael Morpurgo books or the
Alex Rider-like series, I realised his rather unadventurous attitude towards new
series or new authors can be a blessing in disguise…. as moms of teenagers are
always looking <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>for an opening into their
world……and what a better way to gain an entry than embark on a joint adventure with
your teen into the world of books! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">While he
plunges into his favourite books and buries himself in it day and night, he
does need a little prodding when it comes to trying something new. So that’s when
I check in and we both fly away to distant lands only to be pulled back my
little one who is waiting for me with her picture book! </span><span style="font-family: "Segoe UI Emoji",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ascii-font-family: Garamond; mso-char-type: symbol-ext; mso-hansi-font-family: Garamond; mso-symbol-font-family: "Segoe UI Emoji";">😊</span><span style="font-family: "Garamond",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> Anyway,
what was planned to be a ten day break before his starting the bridge course at
school turned out to be an extended vacation for Abhay at his grandparents’
place and of course he isn’t complaining! With everything turned online owing
to the lock down scenario, why not read a book online I thought…and over the last ten
days, every night between 9.30 and 10 pm ….Abhay and I would be transported to
Deogan and Balangir in western Odisha - the setting of “<i><b>Year of the Weeds</b></i>” by <i>Siddarth
Sarma</i>, a Young Adult (YA) novel brought out by Duckbill Publications. “<b><i>Year of
the weeds</i></b>” could not have come to us at a better time when we are most likely
to lose hope in the situation, the system, and most of all ourselves in
overcoming what has now come a human catastrophe. “<i><b>Year of the weeds</b></i>” in so
many ways restores our faith in the system, brings about so much positive vibes and
makes for a truly uplifting read this season. Set in a tribal village of Deogan
inhabited by the Gond tribes, the story takes the reader through their simple, poor yet
contented life built around their Gods and a belief system that holds the
neighbouring Devi hill as sacred which is sought to be threatened by the
discovery of bauxite beneath the hill, the mining of which will result in not
only the displacement of the Gonds but erosion of all that they hold on to. Amidst
all this, is the protagonist, a young tribal boy named Korok who’s
passion for gardening and tending to his employer's garden touches upon every aspect of his
understanding of life and the workings of the adult world and his curious take
on the mainstream world. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To borrow from
Abhay’s own blurb/write up about the book “<i>Year of the weeds is a fabulous
novel that opened up my mind to a great extent and gave me a lot many things to
think about…..how the characters had simple qualities yet were layered in
subtle ways</i>” As we went from chapter to chapter, reading over a chapter and a
half each night connecting over the internet or the telephone, Abhay hung on to
each and every word that I read and tried to visualise the setting and imagined
the characters from the seemingly simpleton Korok to the empathetic city-kid, Anchita,
from the resigned village headman Mahji to the local activist Jadob master,
from the feudal-minded, self-proclaimed king of Deogan, the Superintendent of
Police Patnaik to the apathetic establishment
man, District Collector Behera, along with guest appearances by the politicians
and Maoists. Needless to say, my urban-teenage-device-driven-city slicker was continually
intrigued with the part-humourous, part-philosophical narrative of the events unfolding
leading up to a coup-like ending. A brilliantly written socio-political drama that
makes for a thoroughly engaging read while also impressing upon the future
adults about the <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>system, its weeds and
how to have the weeds defeat one another! Here's hoping that this year be the year of weeding
out all that the ills the system! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />Divya Purandarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05911167122943608188noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8864856854860837340.post-62651264373832633882020-04-19T17:51:00.000+05:302020-04-19T20:13:26.286+05:30What shall I wear? <br />
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little one has been a mini-fashionista ever since she learned to utter the word
“Adalla” (“not that” in Kannada) and from then on, she would pretty much veto
anything and everything I would pick out for her to wear and choose her own
outfit for the day! It had been a formidable task to get her to wear her
Montessori school uniform on the only two days of a five day week that required
the students to don their uniform and just imagine what a mammoth effort it took
for us to get her accustomed to wearing the school uniform “every single day” in
her current school! “What shall I wear now” dominates her mind space and
conversation with her nanny as she gets off her school bus in the afternoon and
on most days, she greets me in the evening as I return home from work with “<i><span style="color: red;">Amma, what shall I wear at bedtime today?</span></i>” She
would insist on a change of clothes even when accompanying me to the next door Kirana
store for milk, or as she heads to my office (which is a portion of the ground
floor of my house) or pillion rides the scooter with her dad to drop her brother
to his bus pick-up point down our street! No matter what the book is about, it
is always “what the girl is wearing” or “what sort of footwear has she worn” or
“what kind of hairstyle is she sporting” that first draws her attention and
trust me….she couldn’t be bothered about the boys at all! (At least for now!). Running
short of ideas to engage her during the lock-down situation, we’ve given her a
free rein to pull out whatever she likes from her wardrobe – <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>from traditional Indian wear to fancy party
wear, from her various fancy dress-like outfits bought during our travels to her
earlier school day costumes …. our little style icon isn’t complaining about
being “All dressed up but nowhere to go! </span><span style="font-family: "segoe ui emoji" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">😊</span><span style="font-family: "garamond" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "garamond" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">So I have
always wanted to lay my hands on Pratham’s “<b><i>What shall I wear</i></b>” by <i>Natasha Sharma</i>
but as you have would have it with many Pratham books , it was out of stock in
most places I inquired. (Of course most Pratham books are available online on <a href="https://storyweaver.org.in/stories/191-what-shall-i-wear-today" target="_blank">storyweaver</a>, but it is not the same thing as cuddling with your little
one at bedtime with her favourite book or when she pulls out the book during
her alone-time and pours over her favourite character!) <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So imagine
my delight when I came across “<a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/1542932652529496/" target="_blank">Snack time Story time</a>” hosted by Natasha Sharma
based on her books on Facebook last week which also featured <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“What shall I wear” a Level 2 reader by
Pratham Publications authored by <i>Natasha Sharma</i> and illustrated by <i>Tanvi Bhat</i>. Its
wonderful when the author introduces the book as he or she always lets in a
snippet or two on the author’s story behind the story and it turns out that Natasha
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sharma was inspired by her then six year
old daughter’s love for clothes that lead to the book and we also got to see
how her not-so-little-fashionista took the same forward to now designing her own clothes!
Anyway, the book is about a little girl who is in a predicament that most of us
often find ourselves in …none of her clothes feel right! <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sometimes it’s the discomfort of the shirt
buttons, or the pant being too tight, or choli not fitting or the lehenga being
too long, so on and so forth driving the little girl to the wardrobe of her mother
and brother with no luck! Read on to find a do-it-yourself-creative solution arrived
by the little girl in tweaking her wardrobe a little with an intelligent mix
and match….and voila!… she has a new outfit! Now ….isn’t that true for all
of us too!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> A laugh-out read for our fastidious little divas who have us on our wit's end in trying to fulfill their fashion demands! </span>Just as we were about to log
on to Youtube for another story telling session …....…Aadya stopped me to ask “Amma what shall I wear for the story-time?” !!!:-) <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />Divya Purandarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05911167122943608188noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8864856854860837340.post-10796325416510673842020-04-08T15:13:00.001+05:302020-04-19T17:51:37.816+05:30It's storytelling festival out here! <br />
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<span style="font-family: "garamond" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">As we head
towards the final week of the 21-days lock down on account of the Covid-19
pandemic in India, hoping against hope that it will slow down the infection
spread, we find that “<i>Zoom</i>”, “<i>BOTIM</i>”, “<i>Microsoft Team</i>” along with good old “<i>Skype</i>” are the
new buzzwords that seemed to have revolutionized the way we look at group interactions. From virtual courts and e-filings to online meetings, from online
classes to online assignments, from online live story-times to online live music
concerts, technology has enabled us to soldier on as far as its possible in
these testing times. With an explosion of live programs on Facebook, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>you find out yourself online all the time - just
as you catch your favourite musician in a Facebook live “unplugged performance”, it seems
to overlap with the live interactive session with the much-sought after nutrition
cum fitness expert, or as you manage to get your little one to watch one of the
author-hosted story sessions live on Facebook, you can’t help but leave to her
device(s) and switch to another for a once-in-a-lifetime story time read out by
Ruskin Bond himself ! <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even in times of quarantine, I can’t believe
we are still being haunted by that “Fear of missing out” (FOMO) feeling!! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "garamond" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Needless
to say, all this is only a momentary respite from the restlessness and the fear of uncertainty,
the general gloom over the impending catastrophe and the accompanying sadness
in seeing so much suffering and loss of lives and livelihood all around us. That
said, it’s also important to stay positive and ensure your family, particularly
the kids are in good spirits as they are our unsung heroes after all, literally
imprisoned for no fault of theirs and not knowing why (as with the younger
ones). While many schools have embarked on online learning formats for the
older kids, engaging younger kids is still a challenge. So apart from the juggling
with working from home full-time or part-time, household chores , cooking and
cleaning, in our case, we are called upon to choose the best of my little one’s
several drawings of “Rapunzel” or get summoned to taste her pretend “poha” or “pakoda”
from her pretend kitchen! <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "garamond" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Anyway, thanks
to all the live story sessions on social networking platforms, we have been
revisiting some of our earlier favorites, like <a href="http://divya-onestoryaday.blogspot.com/2018/05/princess-easy-pleasy.html" target="_blank">Princess Easy Pleasy</a> of which a
sequel has been brought out by the author, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/NatashaSharmaWrites/posts/princess-easy-pleasy-version-15-in-im-so-bored-goes-live-today-at-530pm-india-ti/2523596211226729/" target="_blank">Natasha Sharma</a> in keeping with “constant boredom” that
all our princes and princesses face in these quarantined times. In fact, in so
many ways, these online story-times are better than the in-person activities, as
hopefully the attention stays on the story-teller and what he or she has to say and
does not wander off to the colour of the hairband worn by girl in front! :-)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "garamond" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">With a Storytelling
festival going on, we read the or <b>Tulika’s</b> “<b><i>The Jungle Storytelling
Festival</i></b>” by <i>Janaki Sabesh </i>and pictures by <i>Debosmita Mazumdar</i>.
This is a unique ‘Stories within a story” book that lets the kids <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>string together well known stories through
wordless illustrations. All the animals lead by the squirrel get together for
the story telling festival that flags off with the lion and the mouse story
narrated by the King of the jungle himself followed by the monkey who engages everyone
with his story of outwitting the crocodile greedy for the monkey’s heart and the tortoise narrating his world famous race with the hare. At
the end of the first day of the festival, the Ostrich is seen looking on
eagerly wondering if he could share his story too. But all the other animals
brush him aside given his stammering problem. Just as he retreats to a corner expressing
his sorrow in a song, Mouse Mamma hears him and is surprised to find him
singing without stammering….and that is enough to give <span style="color: red;">Ostoo</span> an opening and an
underdog-like success in the storytelling festival the next day. Aided with soft yet
striking illustrations, this book is a brilliant interactive inter-play of age-old
fables outlined by a contemporary story line so as to impress upon young minds with
today’s ideals of diversity and inclusivity. Whether the lock down is extended further or not, cheer yourself and your little one with the storytelling festivals online. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br />Divya Purandarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05911167122943608188noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8864856854860837340.post-7271595036516208342020-03-29T21:00:00.001+05:302020-04-19T17:52:02.832+05:30 A time for a book for you and your Puchku!<br />
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<span style="font-family: "garamond" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“<i>Man is
a Social Animal</i>” was the first lesson we learnt in sociology and though I have
been a student of sociology earlier, it is only now that I realise the value of
it. With the entire country on a lock-down/home quarantine situation owing to the
advent of the devastating effects of Covid-19 virus spread, we are now faced
with a unique and never-seen-before challenge of “Social distancing”! Right
from the boy who drops off the daily newspaper and milk to the maid who cleans
up, the help/nanny who takes care of your little one, from the Ola/Uber/Metro
that gets you to work to the co-workers and other employees at work, from restaurants/eateries
we frequent to the shops/market for groceries, from the various hobby
classes we enroll into, to fitness/swimming activities we partake in, from the
visit to the salon or socialising with friends and family, our day-to-day lives
are so inter-twined with the other social animals!! To press the pause button
on all of the above and isolate oneself is a not an easy task, to say the
least but being unsure of how long to put off human interaction , so as to
effectively control the spread of the virus is what causes real alarm. As of
now it is <b>Day 6</b> of the Central Government ordered 21-day lock down in India and one can
only hope that we are successful in our attempt to flatten the curve! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "garamond" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">With an
overload of messages on the print and social media on finding the silver lining
in this lock-down situation, and on how it can be an opportunity to reconnect
with your inner-self and family, revive your long forgotten interests, and relearn
the ways and means of a simple life of the days of yore, I decided to get back
to blogging after a long hiatus and my absence is thanks to without an excuse - sloppy time management (though
I would love to call it a writer’s block!). No doubt reading to my kids is still
a stress buster, I’m all the more delighted at the unhurried pace at which I
can now do so as we have suddenly landed ourselves with more than enough time
to kill. Ever since I heard the title, I wanted to herd myself into getting
hold of the book only to learn that it was out of print! On one of my recent visits to
our favourite bookstore “<span style="color: red;">The Funky Rainbow</span>” (when a visit to the bookstore was
still an acceptable social activity), I was pleasantly surprised to have finally found this
gem of a book. “<b><i>A Book for PUCHKU</i></b>” a Level-3 <i>Pratham publication</i>
by <i>Deepanjana Pal</i> and illustrated by <i>Rajiv Eipe</i> makes a wonderful
read aloud story about a little girl who just loves reading. In fact, all Puchku
does all day is read, read and read and so much so that she has finished
reading all the books at home, and all the books she can reach for in her library until
she discovers the top most rack of a cupboard that has stocked many a books
that she hasn’t yet laid her curious eyes on! <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So little
Puchku along with her friend Dodla make an acrobatic attempt to reach for the books
that she thinks seem to be at the reach of only a giraffe…..until the simplest solution
presents itself in the form of a very-tall-eager-to-help librarian! <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Thrilled to no bounds, Puchku however has no
time to thank the librarian who helped her find the books she hadn’t yet read,
as Puchku is already lost in them! A simple story with playful illustrations
and an earnest attempt to sow the seeds of reading in young children, this curly-haired-two-pony-tailed-book-loving
little girl was indeed an instant hit with our little Puchku!! So as the
advisory goes…. “Stay home and stay safe”…. and cuddle up with your little
Puchku with a book! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br />Divya Purandarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05911167122943608188noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8864856854860837340.post-50119377137550733362019-10-15T23:55:00.000+05:302019-10-15T23:55:38.452+05:30Hyderabad blues!<br />
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<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">We just returned from our tour of the Pearl
City of Hyderabad and during the last week
... we've been soaking up some Hyderabadi sunshine as well as getting soaked in
the off and on rain that has been lashing the capital city of Telangana.
However that did not deter us from discovering the city in our own unhurried
way.... savouring each and every moment ... amidst the numerous tantrums,
tussles, tardiness and toilet breaks of our kids.. ..:-) </span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Starting
from the best known icon of Hyderabad, the "Charminar" and the
bustling old city to experiencing the grandeur of Nizam at the Chowmahal palace
and it's various mahals housing some exquisite remnants of British India's most
important princely State, from exploring the world famous Salar Jung museum through
a guided audio tour to climbing atop the colossal Golkonda fort during the day
and witnessing it's illuminated ramparts take us through a thousand years of
history <i>vide</i> the spectacular light and sound show in the evening...we were on a
roll! While squeezing in a few usual touristy hot spots like Birla mandir in
pristine white or the Hussain Sagar lake with the Buddha statue in various
evening hues, NTR gardens with it's noisy children's adventure rides, we also
managed to stop at the lesser known Qutub Shahi tombs heritage park, browze
through one it's quaint little independent bookstores, go bangle shopping at
the Laad Bazaar, sip the Hyderbadi chai and chomp on the mouth watering
baked delicacies of its Karachi bakery and shop at the jaw dropping market place
of Hyderabad's most recent MNC retail acquisition - IKEA... which was a throwback to our days in
the US. Just as we thought we would end our trip with a big bang visit to the
Ramoji Film city with it's sprawling gardens, gigantic film sets, including
it's latest attraction, the Bahubali film set and it's evening carnival
extravaganza, it was however destined that we stay in the city of Nawabs a
little longer owing to a last minute cancellation of our flight which in fact
proved to be a blessing in disguise allowing us (read me) to go on a shopping
spree at Hyderabad's vibrant crafts Bazaar..... Shilparamam! In all, we came
back refreshed....carrying a bagful of shopping, a potpourri of experiences and
a cartload of memories!! </span><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">No trip of
ours is complete without a visit to a local independent bookstore and thanks to
the recommendation of an erstwhile-Bangalorean-now-turned-Hyderabadi friend of
mine, we stopped by Akshara Books while on our sight seeing tour. Nestled in a
quiet part of the Jubilee hills area, Akshara books is how a bookstore should
be...a charming little sanctuary of books, its set-up offering a sense of
tranquility goading you to immediately curl<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>up with one of the books from its impressive collection. "Akshara
Books" also houses a sizeable collection of children's books ranging from
the board books and picture books from foreign publications to many home-grown
publications like Tulika, Pratham, Katha and Karadi tales, etc. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">As I was
looking out for a children's book on Hyderabad, the friendly co-owner, Ms. Kavitha
guided us through the bookshelves and helped us find "<b><i>Off to
Telangana</i></b>", a part of '<i>Discover India</i>' State by State series by <i>Sonia
Mehta</i>, brought out by Penguin Publications. Narrated from the perspective of the
brother sister duo, Mishki and Pushka who set off on an adventure with Daadu
Dolma discovering Telangana, with Hyderabad being its Kohinoor in the crown! A
comprehensive travelogue for kids aged eight and above,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the 'Discover India' throws light on the
history, geography, language and culture of the State in focus accompanied with
fun facts, puzzle and games. "Off to Telanagana" turned into our
ideal tour guide at Hyderabad, acquainting us with Hyderabad's magnificent
mosques and tombs, palace perfections, its Telugu and Hyderabadi cuisine, Telengana's
famous festivals, and many of Telangana's accomplished personalities, all
presented in an engaging format replete with catchy phrases, fun and interesting
games and activities for the young readers to go on their own little expedition....just
like we did and thoroughly enjoyed the land of the Sunrisers!!! <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br />Divya Purandarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05911167122943608188noreply@blogger.com1