India Trip

We came back from India 2 days ago and are still reeling under withdrawal symptoms
:(. I would like to give a brief update on our trip in 2-3 parts and then get back to blogging on my college life soliloques.

April 21st: Our flight was at 6 P.M and we were flying by Virgin Atlantic. I called the cab to come and pick us up at 3. I was running around trying to finish up the packing. Hubby and daughter were blissfully unaware of my tension and were happily playing with their toys (hubby with his laptop and daughter with her toy car. Hubby finally decided to pack at 11 a.m. I cooked simple anna saru. We always make it a point to make that our meal before we leave on a long flight. By 12 hubby realized that he had forgotten to pack some of the organic shampoos for his mother, he goes to wholefoods at 12-30 and comes back at 2 (!). There is still some packing to be done. I am fuming and hubby calmly ignores me and goes ahead with his packing. By 3 the cabwallah is at the door, we are still running around trying to load the dishwasher and checking on the heater and gas knobs, this and that. We finally get out with our luggage by 3-20.

The cab driver turned out to be a Nepali and we settled down comfortably and started chatting with him in hindi only to realize after a good 10 minutes that we had left the stroller behind. You can manage easily in Bangalore without strollers, however we were planning on spending a week in Paris and Switzerland, there is no way we could manage a 2.6 year old toddler without a stroller. So off we went to get the stroller.

By the time we reached the airport it was 3-50. By the time we checked in and went through the security gates it was 5-00.
We were flying via London and Srilanka to get to Bangalore. This was the best deal we got as we were booking in peak season. The plane took off at 6-15, the flight was smooth, however it was a bit of a problem for my daughter. She is potty trained and pretty independent, however she absolutely refused to use the plane toilets. The moment she saw the teeny weeny toilet she said "Mommy, this is galeeej, not good, I won't do pee pee or kakka here". The filthy smell in the toilet made it all the more worse. So I was forced to put her in diapers. She hated it too, but she didn't change her stand in using the toilet. She managed throughout the flight like this and once we landed in Srilanka she was able to use the toilet. The Srilankan airport is very clean and well maintained.

We reached Bangalore on April 23rd at 9-30 a.m, the customs and immigration process went in smoothly. We collected our luggage and headed out. My family were waiting there with a big smile. My mom didn't notice me first and she was busily chatting with her sister, I went to her side and tapped her shoulder, she was like "ayyo neenu yavag bande?" and hugged me tightly. I got quite a few compliments as I was lighter by 18 pounds. The last time they saw me, I had just had a baby and had piled on weight at all the wrong places (!). My dad, SIL, FIL were there too. After hugging everyone we got into our cab and went to my husband's home. My MIL was waiting at the doorstep with arthi to greet us. We were treated to spongy soft set dosas and mango-ginger-coconut-chilli chutney. It was to die for!

By evening I went to my mom's place with my daughter. Well, you gotta follow certain protocols once you get married and one of them is that everytime you come to Bangalore from abroad you go first to your MIL's house, then you are expected to take permission from her esteemed presence and go to your mom's place. Once I broke this rule and to this day my MIL hasn't forgiven me. I never take permission from her though, I just state that I am leaving to mom's house take it or leave it.

This time it was my mom and sister's turn to do the arthi. My daughter was treated like royalty. She was pampered silly by my mom, dad, sister, my aunt's son, and my grand mother. My daughter absolutely refused to look me in the eye lest I start lecturing her on how to behave.