Peanut & PlaySchool

Summary of Day 1, as per conversation with Peanut.

Y: Peanut, did you go to school today?
Peanut: Haan
Y: Were there babies there?
Peanut: Haan
Y: Did you play with them?
Peanut: Haan
Y: Was there Aunty?
Peanut: Haan
Y: Did she give you a chocolate?
Peanut: Haan
Y: Was she nice?
Peanut: Haan
Y: Did you have fun in school?
Peanut: Haan
Y: Do you like it?
Peanut: Haan
Y: Shall we go back there again?
Peanut: Naii. ( Vehement head shake)

You Always Hurt the Ones You Love

Especially if you're an idiotic bungler like me.

Here go a series of apologies of forgotten birthdays and other special occasions over the last month. Maybe I should make THIS a regular feature. That way, I may still have some friends left. Family members, of course, are stuck with me.

* My brother Abhi - belated Happy Birthday. Heh, heh.
* My brother Abhi and my sis-in-law, Vandu - belated Happy Anniversary. Heh, heh. How many years now? Time flies, doesn't it? How is beautiful little Nikki?
* My friend Manav - Hi there, Manav. Belated Happy Birthday. You know you're my best friend, right?
* My friend Amit K - Hey there. 'Sup? Belated Happy Birthday. You know you're my best friend, right?
* My sister, G - Belated Happy Birthday. You're an amazing person. Sorry I didn't call. But I love you. Really.

I have this whole set of excuses for all of the above, but none of them are worth it.

Apologies all around.

It's truly a wonder any of you still love me :-(

Holiday Highlights Thus Far

So this is what is up - it's been over a week since we came here to Ann Arbor, Michigan and here's a brief synopsis. 

* Can't believe it's already time to leave tomorrow - we head out by a 3 p.m. flight to New York, and will be returning to Delhi next week. This has to be the longest holiday that Vijay and I have taken together since we got married - in fact, for each of us, the longest break from work ever. Wow. Should do it more often. 

* Most of our time here has been spent pottering about the little town - it's very, very pretty and green, and generally very friendly - been to the malls; downtown; couple of restaurants; the University of Michigan; and so on - yesterday we went to the Arboretum, a large and beautiful park with many walking trails and its own river to boot. The baby was asleep and Vijay and I spent the afternoon just lying around in the sun and then getting lost somewhere while the brother-in-law tried valiantly to bring the car around to the desolate exit we finally found ourselves at. 

* We had a mini-break with Vijay's brother's family - took a van to a lovely place called Mackinac island - and - I kid you not, Paradise. It really was, like its name suggests, something close to Paradise. The place we stayed at in Paradise was right on the bank of Lake Superior, which I am convinced is really an Ocean in Disguise - in the morning, we played on the shore - and the freezing cold water did not deter us, least of all, little Peanut, who refused to get out until we dragged her out kicking and screaming. Mackinac island itself was great, because it's an island that has no cars at all - took a horse drawn carriage tour of the place, and it's quaint, beautiful and hopelessly and utterly charming, even despite being an out-and-out tourist destination. 

* I have discovered the best part about this country - it has to be the Peanut Butter. I am obsessed with trying everything that has Peanut Butter flavour , including Ice Cream and Fudge. While I am trying to keep up with my exercise, I'm afraid it's a losing battle against the temptations of the Peanut Butter concoctions, which, for your information, is very, very tasty. 

*Surprisingly, the other pleasure on this holiday has been just generally pottering about the kitchen - something I haven't done in ...well, ever. I have discovered that I can actually put together fairly decent meals. Okay, let's not push it. But I do make a mean aloo-parantha, and one time I made this really tasty alu-matar-pyaaz thing in a unique, dry style - and gave it my own twist by adding ketchup on it, as well as cheese. Okay fine, so this is a recipe that my friend Vani showed me last year, but the cheese sprinkles on top were MY idea. I personally thought it was quite brilliant. Apart from this, I am also queen of Scrambled Eggs, but there, alas is where my culinary skills end. 

*The house that the family stays in is beautiful, complete with sunny back porch and garden and everything. It's all automated and they even have a breadmaker that they use to goondo the atta in, if you know what I mean. There are switches for everything all around, but I don't use most of them because I get confused and frankly, I am wary of booby traps. That's me, the little Ghati, Rustic, Indian Bumpkin. 

*Peanut has been having a nice time with her Didi and the 'Baby'. She's also been a barrel of laughs herself, doing things like discovering and trying to run away from her own shadow, which I must rather cruelly add, was one of the funniest things I have ever seen. The other funny thing happened yesterday, when we were buying Ice Cream ( and yes, I selected Chocolate Peanut Butter Fudge Brownie). My niece Ananya and her Dad, Ajay ( Vijay's brother) were at the counter and Peanut and I were behind them. Ananya couldn't decide and kept pointing to different flavours on display, saying 'Papa, I'll have the Mint Choco Chip' and then 'No, Papa, I want the Birthday Cake Remix' and so on'. Finally, Peanut could stand it no longer and unexpectedly shouted at Ajay in her piercing baby tone ' PAPA!' and pointed to a picture of a Butterscotch Ice Cream Cone. 

* Lastly, I wanted to tell you that the concept of a single scoop of ice cream the way we know it in India does not exist here. I asked for a single scoop each time, and got something resembling the leaning tower of Pisa. I shudder to think what would have happened if I had actually gone for the Triple, as Ajay kept trying to push me for. 

In short, it's been rather nice, and we still have a week to go. And yes, the Americans have actually been very, very nice and friendly, and the best part is that so many people have a sense of humour even while interacting with strangers - so I guess it was only the officials at the airport who were a bit nasty. 

But then again, let's see, because we've been in good ol' little Ann Arbor and around it, all this while - and after all, it's New York from tomorrow. 

Whopeee!

Partying with the Sister-in-Law

...didn't quite turn out according to plan, of course. 

Our initial thought was that we would ditch the husbands and kids and go out on the town. But then, they wanted to go play golf, so we thought we'd be shrewd about it - we offered to take 7 year old Ananya and 2 year old Peanut out, while they would have to manage 1 year old Adi, who's the toughest of the lot. 

However, it turned out that Adi slept peacefully the entire time while Vijay and brother played golf merrily for 2 hours. 

Our two hours? We thought we'd pick up some books and have a coffee at Barnes & Noble. But the second I entered, my heart sank and Peanut's leapt with joy. There they were - two majestic escalators leading up and down between the ground and first floor. All other plans were abandoned as Peanut screamed to ride them up and down with me. So that's exactly what we did for 1.5 hours, while my sister in law watched with helpless amusement. 

Why did they invent escalators anyway? They're just for lazy people and crazy 2 year olds. 

The good news is that Peanut had a good time. 

But we followed it up with a nice evening at a Thai restaurant. I enjoyed my shrimp salad while Vijay kept alternating between looking around wistfully for the Daal-roti and fooling around by making his brother repeat the name of the dish we were having, 'Phad-ki-what?' and remarking embarassingly loudly to Peanut 'Yeh Maggi bahut bekaar hai na, beta?'. Thankfully no one understood him. 

So much for the party plan. We are determinedly trying to go out again today. Let's see if we manage.

Conversations with Ananya

My seven year old niece over here is a bundle of laughs. 

Here's a few samples: 

20 questions: 

I explained the concept of the game 20 questions to her and she was quite fascinated. We tried our hand at it, and she had a little trouble figuring out the logic in the beginning. Certain questions would follow certain others, such as -

A: Is it a boy?

Y: No! 

A: So is it a girl?

Y: Err...yeah...

Or

A: Is it a boy?

Y: No!

A: Does he have a mustache?

Y: Err...no...

Or

A: Is it a really famous movie star?

Y: Yes!!

A: Is he related to us?

Y: Err...no...

Or

A: Is he above 20 years old?

Y: Yes!

A: But is he above 10 years old?

Y: Err...Yes?!

On the other hand, there were also the usual signs of a 7 year old's impatience, like: 

A: Is it a boy?

Y: Yes!

A: Is he Indian?

Y: Yes!

A: Is he in movies?

Y: Yes!

A: Is he above 30?

Y: Yes!

A: WHO is this person?

Y: ....You have to guess...

And the final straw, when she just can't wait for the answer

A: Is it Madonna?

Y: No! That's thirteen questions. You have seven more tries. 

A: Is it Madonna?

Y: NO

A: Is it Madonna?

Y: FIFTEEN.

A: Madonna?

Y: SIXTEEN. STOP IT. 

A: So is it Madonna?

You get the picture, right?