Little Miss Talkie Talk

The little missie talks and talks and talks and talks and... yes, on and on and on... and on and on and... you get the flow, right?

A few quips I want to jot down before I forget these jems.

An ant bit her, and she goes 'Naan nenakiren naan romba sweet-a erukken-nu, Ant vandhu yennai kadikudhu!' (I think I'm very sweet, this Ant is biting me.)

A little fellow at the playground trouble her, and she says 'Indha podiyan enn kitta vambu pannuran' (The essence is lost in the translation, so I didn't) The word podiyan that she had caught up, amazes me.

She was pretending to be mommy, and I as Nephy, she calls out to me to come and sleep on her lap, and I firmly refuse, to which she starts 'Nee vara matta? Appo naan Dora-kku Mummy aagiduven. Naan unakku mummy-a Dora-ku mummy-a?'. Had a really really good laugh that night, thanks to the little missy.

She has picked up this habit of picking her nose, and I came up with this rather brilliant idea of making her the monitor. So, anytime anybody picks their nose, she yells 'Amma, Look! Look!'. Sorry for any inconvience caused due to this Monitor's act.

I'm rather very proud of the tamil that she speaks,I think I've done a really nice job in gettin her to speak tamil, rather than going down the all English route, that seems to be the norm here and around.

Lovely hearing her speak in both... more to follow. :)

Star Cruise!!! A dream come true!!

As a teenager, when avertisements for Star Cruises were aplenty, I day dreamt about them. So, indeed, a dream come true.

The things that come to my mind as I think about the trip are the thoughts about the massive ship, the gentle waves that lick the ship, the ship moving effortlessly as though it were merely gliding, the sound of the sea and the cold breeze in the dead of the night, the blue sea and nothing else as far as the eye could reach and ... and.... the insane amounts of food, enough food to last a life time food orgy. Of the three days we spent there, no a single was I not over stuffed.

Remember, ye shall not step on a cruise, if thou art concerned about the extra deposits of fat which will go up by quite a remarkable number . All the fat deposits seem to have an uncanny ability to miraculously find way to my tummy.

It was a three day and three nights trip to Penang, Malaysia and Phuket, Thailand. Well, this post is going to get boring from this point on, as am going to pen down every single detail that I can remember. The essential warnings having been given out and assuming the user clicked on Ignore, I continue.

Star cruise Virgo!! 

Star Virgo

 The journey started on the 3rd of April. No need to say it was after 2 back to back days of celebrations. The 1st being Nephy's and the 2nd, Anto's birthday. Anto's birthday turned out to be quite a thrilling day with India winning the World cup. What better celebration for the cricket crazy husband ;) It turned out lovely. We had friends over at the house watching the match. Anto's friends S & S & S and my friends, the famed love-birds S & S. Seems like the 'S' numerology is working out big time for us.

Dear's 3rd birthday!

Lil princess

Sunday, the 3rd of April witnessed a very quick packing and shopping (a shopping where mommy managed to buy coolers, some t-shirts all under half an hour, that should be a record in itself.)

A very swift checkout, which needs no mention in this country, but deeply saddens me because my home land has none of it. Reminds me of those long queues at the immigration counters in Chennai. In Singapore, the number of counters for citizens is much more than the counters available for other nationals. However, in Chennai, the number of counter for other nationals is much more than the counters for citizens, step motherly treatment in my own home land. Why? :(

 Coming back to my sailing story, we stepped into the cruise without a Thailand Visa. The wise man in the family thought we could apply for an on-arrival visa when we reach Thailand. Looks like matters do not work that way on cruise, we are to submit our passports to the cruise staff before we enter and they apply on our behalf. So, the buggers charged us a royal 100 dollars per head. A thing we could have managed to do under 50$ a head in the comfort of our home. Lessons learnt, you need to have all required visa before you board your cruise and if you intend to count on on-arrival visa, prepare to shell out more bucks.


We entered the ship, all the time struck by its massive body. A very rich lobby serving champagne and juice and staff explaining to us what to do and such. Finally, we checked into our room and the balcony was just amazing , we ooh-aah ed over it and stepped out to check the rest of the ship. 



Lobby



Went to the ship's frontal end , the top deck and the pools and the terrace. Ooh, there was even a library, and we borrowed a couple of books, after all what is bliss if I don't stretch myself on a chair in that balcony, with the seas below and the stars above and nothing else as far as I could see, with a book.



The lil one lazing

Went to the galaxy of stars where there was a dance teaching session in progress. Nope, I didn't join them, lacked the confidence to step up and shake my booty. A rather very curious fellow was the teacher. he would deserve a post unto himself, not here though. Oh, right some of the ladies were showing off quite some moves!!

The top deck

Had dinner at one of the liner's restaurant, the meditteranean . After food, off to the Lido the grand theatre, where we caught up a magic show for Nephy's sake at the end of which, she dozed off. We got back to our room and gazed long and hard into the sea and the sky, those tiny waves that the ship makes, the sky jotted with numerous stars and the never ending quiet sea, a few specs and odd dots of light, a view to behold, and a dive from the balcony into the sea should be a sure shot way to heaven, or is that heaven in itself. I read somewhere that you could fall from upto 200m into the sea(disclaimer, my facts may be wrong)and still not be hurt. The temptation to dive into the sea was surprisingly strong, the peace and the quiet just called out to me. Well, am not suicidal and no, am not going anywhere witout seeing Anto with a mop of white hair and my lil darling walking down the aisle and my grandkids... :)

Day 2 dawned, yet again a heavy breakfast. We spent the morning at the galaxy of stars playing bingo.  Surprisignly I won!! I won, I won, I won!! Won 108$ , and paid 15$ for the ticket. Not bad , I say!

A dip in the swimming pool followed, thereafter an early lunch and we reached Penang at 12 noon. We stepped out and took a taxi around. First stop, chocolate factory, it turned out to be a shop selling chocolates, I wonder why they call it a factory though, gobbled the samples, bought more and headed to the next stop. Third longest reclining Buddha , there were two temples , one housed the reclining which I beleive the Thai people built and another with huge buddhas build by the Burmese. Beautiful temples. A priest there tied holy threads on our hands. 

Buddhist Temple, Penang

Reclining Buddha

chocolate factory, Penang

Final stop to Little India, had tea at Anada Bhavan, and surprisingly this one even served Non-veg. Went back to the ship again, and did another round of Bingo. 15$ down the drain. Off to the roon and I kept watch over the little one, while big darling went out to enjoy the night life.

Day 3 arrived and we reached Phuket. The little boats were eased out of the ship for us to reach the shore, Unlike Penang, where we got down on dry land right off the ship, Phuket was different. From the ship, there were small boats which took us to a wooden rop bridge built on the sea , which led to the shore. We hired a taxi, the taxi driver and we were totally out of sync this time. He had a mind of his own , and pretened not to understand when we insisted on something. He took us to an Animal show park, the first in the line was Monkey show. Next in the line, was a snake show, which I refused outright. Next was an elephant ride, which we skipped due to the long line. we headed off to a pearl factory, again a shop. Next stop was to buy souvenirs and finally sea food. Lobster and prawns... hmm, the Thai have perfected the art of cooking sea food, I must say.

To Phuket

Thai Seafood

Pearls & a miniature of a pearl farm

We returned back to the ship to spend our final night at sea. The dinner happened to be a gala dinner, thankfully the love-birds S & S who had already been on a cruise trip, warned us ahead to carry some formal clothes. The ladies were dresses in lovely cocktail gowns and dresses and the men wore suits. Went back to the room to stare more into the sea and the sky and ended our final night.

Day 4 dawned and we sailed through to reach back Singapore. I wanted to check the Casino, but with Nephy around we weren't allowed inside. So, we left Nephy at the child care for an hour and went down to the Casino. I learnt the game Bacarrat from a dealer and watched for a while and decide to bet 100$. We got all 5$ chips and played at a table which accepted minimum bets of 10$. We won back a 100$, we cashed it and felt quite lucky. Then we checked our the rear end of the ship and the kids swimming pool. In the afternoon, I set out by myself with a 50$ bill, back to the Casino. I played with the 50$ and got a 100 back. I came back singing to myself and I can't wait to go back to a Casino and lose it again. In SG, I have to pay a 100$ as entrance fee, which is rather uninviting. Next trip to Genting I say.... !! Is it true that you only win on your very first day at the casino?

Finally it was time to get down and go home. At 7pm, we stepped on land and set off to home with memories of a lovely trip and a longing for the sea, the quiet and the darkness.

Jai Ho...

A R Rahman's concert at the grand theatres at Marina Bay Sands , Singapore.

I saw the legend , the maestro today, and am still reeling from the giddy effect. An acute dose of music performed by the ARR himself, no wonder, I still don't feel my new shoes bitting into my legs.

The concert started off with the number O Sana... from Slum dog Millionaire and the whole 2 hours that ensued was nothing short of magical. The second number was from the movie Robot, the Rajinikanth starrer.

There were other songs from tamil which others sung, it wasn't ARR*disappointed*. Kilimanjaro...... Taxi..., that Blaze and Benny executed to perfection. I saw Blaze with his wife and 2 kids after the concert taking off in the direction of the Marina Sands hotel. For one second, I thought I would get a picture with them, the next moment, I dropped the idea. Afterall, its only Blaze, not ARR. I digress, getting back to my story line.

There was a particularly wonderful moment when everything sizzled, when the master started off with "Marhaba...Marhaba....". Of course, its "Oorvasi...oorvasi..." from Khadalan. Lovely. I can still hear the Marhaba ringing in my ears.

He played bits of music from VTV and other movies on the Piano.  The one performed at the Nobel Prize was done too. There was this number Lukha chuppi, sounded very delicate when he sung.

There were other lovely songs too, mostly bollywood numbers. Rang de Basanti, Jodhaa Akbar. There was a Classical Indian music section which covered nice numbers from Tamil & Hindi. Then, ARR Bhai put on his white prayer cap and I thought he was going to sing his famous Qaseeda, which I am still in love with from the moment I heard it first. No, he didn't. He performed a number from Jodhaa Akbar. You can listen to the qaseeda here.

He finished off the show with Jai Ho & Vande Mataram.
The final slide on the concert was "Ella pugazhum Iraivaivanukke", All glory is unto God.

I missed hearing Vellai pookal... wish he had sung that one. Wished & wished so many other songs too, maybe another time.To sum it up, the concert rocked. When Anto said that he should have bought the first row tickets instead, I chided him saying , he could even see ARR's pimples if he is that close. Well, Now I wish I had been in the first row and had seen the dirt in his shoes ;)

Almost forgot, My little baby darling came to the concert and trust me, I didn't even get up once. That well behaved, she was. She slept off the last half hour , otherwise she seemed to enjoy it completely.

Second hand TV on sale!

I would like to sell my TV at the earliest possible date. Soon, I might even consider giving it out for free. Its best to check out this page once in a while, there might be just an irresistable offer on TV ;)

The other good option would be to buy another TV, definitely bigger than his. ;) However, it all boils down to the money, and poor Betsy has no money lah! Anybody out there giving out a TV for free?

This dislike for TV started when the little one began to insist on watching Barney and friends over and over again. The dislike has grown multiple folds now and the reason and the only reason being the Cricket World cup. Worry never comes in single, they say, there is IPL to follow soon after World cup. I've always wondered what sort of game goes on for hours and hours, why not play for an hour or two and call it a day. Warning to all the cricket enthusiast, please refrain from reading this blog until the end of cricket craze for this season.

How I wish, I had graduated from Hogwart's school of Witchcraft and I could cast a spell on the cricket crazy husband. Magic wounld have come in handy then.The husband comes home only for cricket these days. I can understand if you watch the matches, but why the highlights, the players talking and whatever that is on cricket. The other day I even caught him watching something about the pitch and the ground. I'm sure he needs counselling.

In case, you come home and can't find my husband, please tap gently on the couch. I swear one of these days, he would turn the same colour as my couch and will be mistaken to be part of the couch. If the gentle tap doesn't work, a hard kick definitely will. 

My little darling has also been sidelined. She is allowed to watch her Barney during meal times on split screen. The first few days, she raised hue and cry, but even she seems to have realised that this isn't a good time to mess with Daddy. Hence, its half the screen for Cricket and half for Barney.

I tried to bet on the match today between India and England . I bet on India not going beyond 335 runs and he otherwise. He said I can buy a dress if he loses. Sadly, I lost and a lesson learnt, don't bet against the expert.

I tried another bet for 500$. My bet was on India losing this world cup and I wanted him to bet against me, but he just wouldn't. He says I can pick one of the teams and bet on them instead. Duh, whats the fun there? The probability that India would lose the world cup is much more than India winning the world cup, just in terms of maths and probability.

Inspite of all my efforts in making it fun for me, it isn't working out at all for me. Gosh, The other day the match at Bangladesh with the shrill blasts of whistles, honking horns which went on for hours, gave me a terrible head ache.

Finally....a  kind request to fellow readers, if you see a mom with hair springing out in odd angles, with a suitcase, a barney bag and a little girl, both looking lost, its probably me and Nephy. Please take me to the airport, look through my wallet, and you will find a supplementary credit card, with it, book me on a flight to Chennai and give my dad a ring. Thank you. 

Written some time in June of last year. Yup, this post is that old. Here goes....

Finally, she is talking.

Some snippets from my little one's little talk...

When mom or dad comes home after work(or out of the bathroom), she announces.. 'Amma coming' or 'Appa Coming'

When she is pissed off ...'Amma semma adi' and hits me hard with a toy that she has(which, by the way, is gonna go hiding soon)

When someone goes to the shop, she doles out her list 'Seez Stee'(Cheese Stick)

When the waiter asks, what drink, she jumps up to say 'Lama Tea'(Lemon Tea)

Then there is
'Amma go up'
'Amma go there'
'Amma ...na'(Amma... endha... like saying, here, take it)
'Amma ...no thoo'(Not that Amma is sleeping all the time)

When she gets naughty, I ask her to turn around so I can whack her derriere.
Now, she turns around willingly saying 'Bum Bum'... (Am trying to teach her some discipline, as she is teaching me that this can be fun.)

Anyone who comes to our home is served lemon tea from her kitchen.

She can figure out numbers , I mean she can match 1 to 1 and 2 to 2 and so on. Its 6 and 9 that confuse her, but she has caught on.

She can say my name as 'Bessie', her dad's name and my mom is called Defy(Even my dad wouldn't have said so many times in their 30 years of wedded life)

She requests for shows to be played in the Tee-vee(TV)... Play Barney.. Play cBeebies... Sometimes, there are even song request... Play Sun sun(a song from Barney) or Amma va va (Amma engae va va..song)

She loves Bags and shoes, like all girls. Don't u dare take her to the shoe shop. She wouldn't come out unless she tries each available/reachable one.

Her friends are Jayden, Adi and Rachel.

Her favourite teletubby is Lola and she is yellow in  colour.

Her favourite toy is a small little Barney doll. I have to put Barney to sleep before I could start my attempts on her

She is growing up fast. Am afraid its much too fast for lazy mom to capture it all. :)

At 3:41 am

Wonder what am blogging about at3:40 in the morning, or should I call it night? Yep, the little Missy did it again. She woke up crying, god knows when, asking for the lights to be switched on. There she goes. She never runs out of things to ask in the middle of the night. Never cry for the same thing over two nights, lest mom gets prepared for the excuse.

So, lights on tonight was the deal. Fine, switched on the night light. Life is never easy, she wanted 'that light' , points to the big one. *curses Anto for having got those bright lights* We tried to sleep for a while with the lights on. But, the mind refused to believe .....


Hey, we managed to switch off the lights. After all, looks like life isn't bad afterall. Good night

good night sweetie little.

Teh Tarik & Kaya Toast

I discovered Teh Tarik & Kaya Toast  during my first year in SG and I, still haven't got bored of it. A little detail here. Teh Tarik is made from black tea with condensed milk and Kaya Toast is toast with a spread made from egg, coconut with a dash of pandan for flavour(am only guessing here). Its served with a slice of butter in between the slices.

Nothing interesting right? After all, its just tea and toast with a different name. You are mighty wrong, you definitely have to try this to believe it.

The dear husband is a firm believer in Do-Not-Try-Food-That-You-Haven't-Tried-Before, including your wife's!! So, it was my ex colleagues & good friends, Bala & Vanitha who took me to the Toast Box (City Link Underpass) for my first taste of Kaya toast and tea and I have been a true fan since then.

Finally, the big-dearie came around and tried it and bingo! He liked it. It soon turned out to be a weekly affair. The little-dearie followed after mom and she began to love it too.

So,  I began spreading word of it. Never had anyone whom I had cajoled( / bribed) into trying it hadn't gone 'Yummm....'. The list includes my mom , dad, bro and a few friends. Well, my bro & dad wouldn't need to be cajoled / bribed, they are always game to try anything in the name of food and I wish I had your guts(and did I tell you how my dad developed a itchy food allergy, after he tried some seafood in Malaysia once, that would another funny post... another time )!!

Long live Kaya Toast! Long live Teh Tarik!!Oh, Teh Tarik, is the closest to my mom's tea that I've ever had.

However,  I would suggest that you only try this from Yakun Kaya!!