Election Day turned out to be an unexpectedly active one. I was super enthused about the elections this time around, and I was determined to take Snubnose with me when I went to cast my vote so that she understands a little bit about our democratic system.
But first, I wanted to start the election holiday with a bit of fun – swimming fun. Snubnose and Piglet have never been in the pool together. It’s hard as usually only one of us is around to monitor, so what happened was that Piglet got his pool time in the mornings and Snubnose got to swim in the evenings.
Since Election Day was a holiday, we made it a sibling event with both Snubnose and Piglet in the pool at the same time, K hung around taking a few pics to document the moment, and I was on hand to help with ball, and towel, and change of clothes.
Here are a few clicks of the fun we had.
Post swimming, Piglet literally dropped off to sleep as soon as we reached home and we sneaked out to vote while Piglet napped with his granddad.
I expected huge queues at the voting booth but was shocked to find it almost empty. I wasn’t surprised at all when I read the news headlines the next day about the poor voter turnout in Bangalore.
Anyway, short lines meant we were in and out within 30 minutes and I got to vote for my candidate of choice. Not that I had a huge choice. When 2 out of my 3 shortlisted candidates have criminal cases pending it was a pretty easy call whom to pick 🙁 .
So, yeah, I voted and got horribly ink-stained as repayment for my efforts. Gah, this stain is so horrible and it’s going to last for weeks, it’s almost an incentive not to vote 🙁 . It looks like a bullet wound almost.
After voting, we picked up Snubnose’s BFFS (Best Friends Forever Sister) as they put it, and went out for lunch. Tadka Singh was close by and looked interesting so we popped in to try their meal of the day, which consists of some rice, dal makhani, 2 parathas, and jeera aloo. The meal was quite substantial for me, Snubnose, and her friend. We added some gulab jamuns as dessert and soon we were pleasantly full.
The food is decent and the place is neat and clean. It’s not a high-profile place but it’s definitely value for money and we all liked the restaurant very much.
One interesting decor item was a huge washing machine that was placed in the counter. According to the notice below it, washing machines are used to make lassi in Punjab. Is that true? I didn’t know that.
The kiddos were very interested in the washing machine and were all set to order lassi just so they could see it swishing around in the washing machine.
It needed strong convincing to assure them that it was just a model, and that lassis may be made in washing machines in Punjab, but definitely not in this restaurant. Phew! Thank goodness they agreed to give up on the lassi. I knew for sure they wouldn’t drink it, and I sure as hell didn’t want to end up gulping down a huge tumbler of the stuff.
After food, a Bangalore Metro train ride was a treat followed by a visit to another friend’s house for carrom and beyblades in the evening.
It was turning out to be a great day until it all turned southwards towards bedtime.
Snubnose and her friend were having a great time until they suddenly turned against each other and had the most bizarre fight (over clothes of all things). This was probably Snubnose’s biggest public meltdown ever and it took ages for her to compose herself again. After loads of consolation and pampering things turned icy but civil.
I was totally caught off-guard by this sudden turn of events. These two girls were having such a wonderful time and then suddenly they weren’t talking to each other! It was time for Barbie and Monsters High to weave their magic on YouTube. Couple of movies later things thawed between them and went back somewhat to normal.
Phew! I was so relieved. I had a not-so pleasant glimpse of Snubnose’s unsharing attitude for the first time today. I always knew she was clingy about her possessions, but never realized she could be this possessive. I also suppose both girls were tired after a long and exhausting day and were probably just naturally done. The sleepover might have worked better if it had remained a play-date perhaps. But they’ve had sleepovers together before and loved it too.
Perhaps as Snubose so eloquently put it, she had a bad day. I hope so too. The next day after her friend left she moped around glumly around the house clearly embarrassed and angry by her outburst, with her friend, and with me. According to her I was unfair and partial and did not take her side. But how could I? Snubnose was in the wrong and it would have been rude.
It took another couple of hours of consoling and cajoling and explaining before she agreed to forgive me, which again confounded me. I wasn’t getting her to forgive me, I wanted her to understand why things went wrong and what she could have done better!!! Sometimes, it’s so hard to explain things to Snubnose 🙁 .
She’s having another sleepover within a very short time and am hoping the next one works out better. I also probably need to schedule some extra activities and set boundaries a little more stringently so that all the girls know exactly what is possible and what is not.
Sigh! You live and learn.
So that was our election day. Fun and stressful in turn. What was your election day like?
