Tag Archives: Chennai

New Experiences for Snubnose and Piglet

Last week we went on a short holiday to Chennai to spend some quality time with my mom and grandmom.

Chennai at this time of the year is always boiling hot (it’s Agni nakshatram meaning fiery star referring to the hottest time of the year), and we must have been absolutely nuts to try this trip. However, snubnose was getting restless at home during the summer holidays and since I couldn’t take time off from work to go for a longish trip…a long weekend in Chennai it had to be.

Surprisingly though, it was pretty good fun, and chock-full of new experiences for both the snubnose and piglet.

Very quickly we realized that outdoor activities were pretty much impossible. After a miserable trip to Birla Planetarium where piglet all but melted while we waited in queues in almost 40 degrees temperature, we retreated to the comfort of malls where there was enough fun activities for the kids while at the same time maintaining our cool.

Funcity (a chain of games arcades present in a lot of malls in India) is one of the absolute best places for kids to hang out. Tons of rides, games, and rather useless prizes to be won. Since this was already a favorite with the snubnose, we decided it was a safe if slightly predictable option for her.

Snubnose for the first time in her life worked up the courage to go on a lot of rides all alone. Usually, I accompany her on most everything she does, but this time I was occupied with piglet and so she had to try the rides on her own.

I was worried for her, but she did absolutely fine going on the Drop Zone, Columbus, and Bumping Cars without getting hassled or worked up. She’s growing up so fast all of a sudden. During this trip, I could really make out just how much she has matured in the past two years…she was an absolute trooper, a very mature and helpful young girl while still being her fun-loving giggly self.

Here is a rather blurry shot of her driving the Bumpy Car:

As for piglet, his travel experiences were primarily of the culinary kind. During this trip, he sampled most anything that was on offer and it was great to discover his likes and dislikes.

Piglet does not have a sweet tooth for sure. He tried ice creams for the first time during this trip, and he didn’t like them too much, neither the vanilla nor the chocolate flavors could entice him for more than a few sample licks.

He does gravitate towards the carbs though. He happily wolfed down however much he could of the chilli cheese toast (with chilli flakes!), garlic bread, and even was tempted by the bruschetta although he did look askance at the tomatoes on the bread. He even loved the nachos and potato chips. Salt and carb overload!!! Just like mom

Piglet also made his first trip to the beach. We went to the beautiful Taj Vivanta near Kovalam beach, and enjoyed a wonderful non-crowded beach experience. Snubnose and I escorted Piglet into the water…the expressions on his face when the water hit him were priceless…shock and awe is the phrase that slips into my mind.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t take too many photos of our trip. Piglet is super-frisky these days and it was impossible to photograph anything. Most of the photos I took during our trip were at home chilling out at my mom’s place, or shots taken one-handed while trying to hold on to Piglet and stop him from grabbing the iPhone.

Oh well, at least we had a great time

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Traveled to Chennai on Work and …Shopping!

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Last week I had to take an unscheduled trip to Chennai for work. I spent a lot of time fretting whether everything would work out all right, but thanks to all the advance preparations everything went off like a breeze.

Stress over, it was now time to chill out and relax. It’s been ages since I met up with family and it was great just relaxing at home chatting and watching movies.

Chennai is absolutely boiling at this time of the year, and so we didn’t really venture out too much.

We did make one shopping stop at T.Nagar though. I am not really a fan of the crowds and the hustle-bustle there, but somehow it just so happens that every time I come to Chennai, I end up visiting this place and picking up something (mostly for my daughter or Mr. K). I just don’t have the patience to wade through the crowds in search of goods.

This time, we went to G.R.Thanga Maligai in search of gold ear hoops for the snubnose. She lost her original ones in the sandpit at school, and since then her ears have been pretty much naked. We definitely had to do something. So, one hot afternoon, we gathered up our courage and ventured to good, ole GRT to search for some gold hoops.

We did manage to find something suitable but not without some panicky moments. While trying out the hoops on the snubnose’s ears, one of them got stuck and wouldn’t come off even with some tugging. The snubnose was in tears, and so was I (almost). Finally, a salesman came with a pair of pliers and managed to get them off. Thankfully no major damage was done.

After that scary episode, we moved on to Nalli’s to find a saree for the snubnose. Yes, you read that right, I meant a saree .

The snubnose has been very keen on sarees for a long time. She spends quite a lot of time draping my dupattas to form a saree on her little body. Never mind that it’s so uncomfortable and confining. To the snubnose, fashion comes first! And she just couldn’t bear it when all her friends had one, but she didn’t.

Well, we gratified her long-held wish and you can see the satisfied snubnose donning her new saree.

The Snubnose in a Sari

What really surprised me is just how comfortable she is in a saree. She definitely did not let it impact her movements or anything. I must admit though that it is a stitched saree, not draped…but still, I think her comfort level is pretty amazing!

Tagged Again…

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…by Amrit of the The Midnight Sun. He has tagged me for the 8 wonders meme. Here are my responses:

8 TV Shows I Love to Watch:

None, I don’t watch TV at all. If I had to pick something it would be True Blood on HBO and award shows.

8 Favorite Places to Eat:

Little Italy
Herbs & Spice
Ginseng
Coffee Day (for the great capuccinos and small eats)
Cascade (Chennai)
Duchess (Chennai -not sure it is still around. It used to be my fave joint once upon a time)
Corner House (for the great ice-creams and milkshakes)
Nanking

8 Things That Happened Yesterday:

Tons of work
Rained a lot
Updated my blog
Started working on this meme
Spoke to my mom
Made a new week resolution (yes, I make resolutions each week)
Taught the snubnose a new song (Vande Mataram – we are being very patriotic this week)
Surfed on the net a lot

8 Things I Look Forward To:

My project release
Reading “The Graveyard Book” by Neil Gaiman
The weekend
Travelling to Mumbai for my friend’s wedding
Everyone in my house getting healthy again after the viral fever bout
Restarting my workouts again
Diwali
Seeing Kaminay

8 Things I Love About Winter:

Days starting later
Cuddling up with the snubnose
Cups of hot tea
Wearing smart jackets, sweaters, and shawls
Not sweating
Not getting tanned
The rains
Staying at home

8 Things on my Wish List:

Time to relax and chill out
Meet up with old friends scattered across the globe and just catch up in person (instead of just Facebook and chat)
Take yoga classes and become super-flexible
Wish I could be more photogenic (really wishful thinking, I know…but I always cringe when I see my photos)
Stick to exercise routines
A bigger house (or maybe less junk in my present house)
Someone with super good taste will magically revamp my wardrobe
Win a contest on radio/TV/anything

8 Things I’m Passionate About :

Books
Writing
Blogs
Fashion
Travel
Great coffee and conversations
Friends
Family

8 Words or Phrases I Use Often:

Yabba (only tams can understand this one )
OK, fine! (when I am giving in to somebody)
da (again a Tam-specific slang)
cool
Too much
Actually (which I am really, really trying to curb )
Simply superb

8 Things I Have Learned From My Past:

You cannot change anybody’s bad habits or behaviors, it has to come from within them. Stop trying and getting frustrated
Not being a topper at school does not mean you cannot be a topper outside it
Not to be too trusting and naive about people. Have an open mind but don’t open your heart to others fully until you are sure about yourself and them
Being around negative people can be very draining, be kind to yourself, avoid people who enjoy making you feel bad about yourself
Some things about your life cannot be changed, they must be endured gracefully
Health and peace of mind are the 2 most important things. Everything comes later
Holding petty grievances is tiring and affects you badly. Forget about things, move on…
You are changing all the time. What once worked for you may not be good for you any longer. Recognize that fact and keep evolving

8 Places I Would Love to Go or See or Visit:

France (Paris and the south of France)
Italy
Himalayas (I have never been north of New Delhi, and I am just dying to go)
Eastern states of India
New York
Maldives
South Africa
Brazil

8 Things I Currently Need or Want:

A new hair-do
A great party (I”m still not satisfied after last month’s shenanigans)
A relaxing massage
Some alone time
Nice shoes
A faster computer, which does not hang when I open 2 Firefox tabs
More healthy dining options in the food court near my place
More fun in my life!

Whew! that was tiring. I really had to stop and think for some of these…

I am not tagging anybody specific for this one. If you like this meme, feel free to use it on your own blog, and link back to me. I would love to read your answers.

Chennai Trip Summary

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Had a whirlwind of a time in Chennai. I was only gone for 4 days, but in that time we really managed to squeeze in a lot.

I went to Chennai primarily to attend my cousin’s wedding, and catch up with all my relatives. Took two very tiring, and hot days to get that done leaving the rest of the time to do whatever we feel like.

This involved mostly roaming around the streets of Besant Nagar, checking out whatever new boutiques/stores/restaurants catch our fancy. Besant Nagar is one of those “cool” places to be in Chennai, filled with a young and happening crowd. This makes for a constantly changing neighborhood with new places popping up all the time.

Some great and not-so great places we stopped by in Besant Nagar:

Auromode was one of the first shops we visited. This is run by the folks from Auroville in Pondicherry. Having already visited their store in Pondicherry, I expected this one to stock high-quality merchandise at high prices. And this store is precisely what I expected. Apart from the usual candles, soaps, biscuits, and agarbattis, they have some excellent leather bags, and wallets, clothes, and furnishings.
Although the store is not very large, the owners have used the space superbly, and are able to stock quite a lot of goods without without making the space feel cramped at all.

I loved one of the handbags and a wallet, but the price made me hesitate a little bit. I did not think Rs.5000/- for a bag to be very reasonable (even though it was a good design and very well-made). The mezzanine floor has some great costume jewelery, which is reasonably priced. They also have a very good selection of western women’s clothing. I loved the collections of shawls they had, and ended up picking up one of them.

The second floor has some (overpriced, I thought) dhurries, bedcovers and so on. Nothing too interesting, or novel. What we loved though, was the huuuuge bean-bag they had for sale (Rs. 7000/-). This has to be one of the most comfortable bean-bags I have ever sat on (and I have sat on many). The hubby is a big fan of bean-bags and is always looking for the perfect one for him to lounge on with a glass of beer watching cricket on the TV. This bean-bag was perfect, only the price made us hesitate, and the fact that the shop can’t send it to Bangalore. Even we were not so crazy as to attempt to cart it by train!

Now, enough about the bean-bag. Some other great items we saw, were the teak-wood framed mirrors and the teak-wood pedestal lamps. They were just too beautiful, really exquisite workmanship and the quality of the wood was just great…

Definitely, this store has a lot to offer for people who are looking to redecorate their homes. Even if the prices are a bit steep, it is still worth it to come here and get some great design ideas. The staff are also very knowledgeable and helpful, very good service. Definitely 2 thumbs-up!
FabIndia Furniture is a new store that has opened up in the past week. We went there with very high expectations, as this is the first time we are going to a FabIndia that is solely focused on furnishings. But, we were in for a real disappointment. Maybe it is because this is a new store, but they hardly had anything solid on display. Just the same stuff that we have seen in numerous FabIndia stores any number of times. The stock is old, and their designs are mundane. The staff were not able to distinguish the sheesham wood from the mango wood. All in all, a total waste of time. We just hung around there and browsed their catalog out of politeness and then discreetly left the store.
Purple is a boutique located in Arundale Beach Road. From the outside, the place looks very interesting. There is also a sign for an attached bakery. This store supposedly attracts a lot of people from Tinseltown, so when I walked in, I was definitely not expecting fake D&G bags sold for 3k! The clothes and shoes are very blah, nothing even tempting me for a second glance. Since I had walked in, I thought let’s at least go to the bakery and pick up something, but there must have been something very wrong, because I just could not find the bakery. Went around in circles for about 15 minutes and then gave up the attempt. My only guess is, the owners probably keep the good stuff inside for the celebrities and leave all the junk out for the aam aadmi (common folks, like us).
Cascade is a very popular Chinese restaurant in Besant Nagar. There is not much I can say about Cascade that hasn’t been said umpteen times in various restaurant reviews. Consistently good food at a very good price. The menu is not that extensive, but that doesn’t matter to us. This is the place to go gorge on the superb soups, the crunchy cream cheese wontons, the spicy chilli garlic noodles and fried rice, and the fried ice-cream. Left the place barely able to walk .

Summary of events: A mixed experience. Auromode and Cascade were terrific. Purple and FabIndia Furniture were disappointing. There are probably tons of new places, which we might have missed visiting.

I was very eager to go for the Bella Ciao Sunday brunch in Kottivakkam. Heard it’s a very good experience, but since we were leaving on Sunday, we couldn’t make it this time. It is definitely on my place to visit list.

Now looking forward to a long and busy week ahead with tons of work to catch up on …

Oh well, short but a really sweet and action-packed holiday !

Upcoming Vacation Stress

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Next week, I am going on a short holiday to Chennai. I can’t really call it a holiday as no one (positively no one) would want to visit Chennai during the peak of the summer season.

I am actually going there to attend my cousin’s wedding. Although I am really looking forward to the break, I am also stressed about the number of things I need to take care of before I leave.

My to-do list and major cause of stress:

Complete all my official work in time before I leave, and so hopefully not have to cart laptop off to Chennai (hahah…in my dreams)
Make sure I pack everybody’s wardrobe appropriately – including jewellery, sarees, and shoes that all work together. Garrrh…this is going to be difficult. Practically all my jewels are hand-me-downs from elders in the family, and my sarees are pretty much as per their taste. Think, heavy wedding Kanjeevaram siks from Nalli ONLY! Had big dreams a couple of months ago of buying a designer saree and blouse and really dressing my age, rather than an aunty…Thanks to my profound laziness and permanent state of brokeness, that dream dies a natural death
Even worse, thinking I am going to buy a designer saree, I just did not bother to stitch a blouse for the saree that my mom gifted me and has been nagging me to wear for ages. Of course, there is no time for stitching now! Will land up at wedding wearing salwar kameez or ghagra choli (neither of which is close to wedding-appropriate)…oh…no, I will end up spending my hols listening to moans such as:

“I told you months ago to bring that saree and still you haven’t done it … how come you are always so busy for these things, but are never busy to update your blog”…and so on and so forth…
Make sure that all the train tickets are confirmed and not to forget to take the print-outs of the tickets. I am very much capable of landing up at the platform without print-out. I am put in charge of this whole expedition, and so I am solely responsible for anything going wrong.
Remember to go to the beauty parlor this weekend. This trip has been a handy excuse for putting off all grooming activities for months on end. The idea being, I will get everything done at one shot just before the trip and land up there looking really neat. Unfortunately, months of unwaxed limbs, untweezed face, un-manicured hands and un-pedicured feet, and untrimmed, uncolored hair is not really going to go away after a couple of hours. I will probably need to book the parlour for the whole day and time is just what I don’t have right now
Return books and borrow books from Eloor library (because no trip can be complete without some reading material)
Research for some new places n things in Chennai to do (so that I have something to blog about when I get back, as well as keeping the snubnose occupied)…hah! this is what we call “oru kallu le rendu maanga” (translation: drop two mangoes with one stone)

Do you wonder that I am stressed?
Here is a cartoon depicting how I am feeling right now:

Stressed Day and Night

One thing I don’t have to remember is to get the gift. I have cleverly decided that money is the way to go. Not only that, I have budgeted the amount correctly AND ensured that I haven’t spent it on anything else. HURRAH for me!

On an aside: anyone have any suggestions regarding things to do, places to eat, in Chennai (something preferably air-conditioned)? Vandalur, Pondicherry, Amethyst, Snow-World do not count – already been there …

Struggles with the Snub-nose

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For the past couple of months, the little snub-nose has been acting extremely snooty with me.

She is normally a good eater, and eats everything we put on her plate (as long as her veggies are nicely mashed up).

Well, all that changed the past couple of months after our trip to Chennai. Nothing really happened during this trip to trigger it, but she suddenly switched her allegiances to her dad. And started a total non-cooperation movement with me.

Things got so bad that during feeding times, both Kalyan (he has calls in the night and really is not upto feeding her dinner) and myself had to hide ourselves out of her sight while the maid fed her dinner. She doesn’t throw any tantrums with her.

But after putting in a lot of maska and cooing, she finally seems to be getting back to the unfussy non-troublesome kid she usually is. I am back to feeding her at mealtimes and we are all a happy and relieved family once again

Fingers crossed that she doesn’t revert back to her old self.

I am wondering whether the extra attention and pampering by relatives during our Chennai trip went to her head. What do you think ?

Fab Shopping – Another Oldie post from October’s trip to Chennai for Diwali

Relaxing in Amethyst Coffee Shop in Chennai

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This post has been sitting in my drafts folder for quite some time now. There has been so much happening in the last few months that I couldn’t find the time to complete and post all about my trip to Chennai last October. Now that I have some time on my hands, I dug this one up, edited it, and published it.

Whenever I go to Chennai, I always make it a point to spend some quality time with my family in Amethyst. Located in Gopalapuram (on a parallel road to Satyam theatre), this place is ideal to spend some quiet time drinking coffee n having a snack after seeing a movie.

The ambience in Amethyst is one of the best. You can drink your coffee at your own pace lounging on wicker chairs on a verandah overlooking the garden. Amethyst is a spacious old colonial house (about 150 years old), well-maintained, and surprisingly very quiet and peaceful. I usually go there on weekday afternoons, and so avoid any crowds. I have no idea how it is during evenings and weekends, so I cannot comment on that.

Shot of the Magnificent Building

The quality of the snacks and short-eats is quite good. The offerings are similar to those by Coffee Day and Barista – in type as well as quality. They also have a small shop where they sell over-priced trinkets, clothes, and shoes. These may be very attractive to expats who frequent the cafe quite often. Locals will mostly ignore the stuff. In addition, they have a nice flower-shop where they make you quite lovely bouquets.

When we go there, we mostly chill over cold coffees and pastries, talking desultorily, and watching the old fan rotate hypnotically on the ceiling. They used to offer hookahs earlier, but don’t do so any more. The little snub nose spends her time running around, exploring all the plants (there is a lot of greenery), and generally getting under the feet of all the waiters. Thankfully, no accidents this time.

All smiles at Amethyst

This time, we visited the huge ballroom on the 1st floor where they were having an exhibition of antique furniture. Yes, these days, we are very much into furniture window-shopping. Shoot us, we are old !

Saw a nice sofa-set, which reminded me of the one we used to have when I was a kid. Got quite nostalgic for the good old days, I did !

Antique Sofa-set

If interested, Amethyst details are below :

#14/30, Padmavathi Road, Gopalapuram, Chennai
Phone 24991330

Dancing Jahnavi

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Anyone remember the old “Dancing Baby” video that used to be forwarded time and again ? Well, here is the upgraded version – the snubnose dancing on a table during our vacation in Chennai. Enjoy!