Mom is enjoying time with my sister.
She is recounting memories of my sister when she was just a little girl about 52 years back.
She was very young and was left behind at my maternal granny's house where she was the pet of the house full of relatives. My mother being a teacher din't have anyone to take care of my sister. So she was left in the care of her brother's wife, her sister and granny.
My mom's was a family of teachers. Her eldest sister was a teacher at Keyes Girls' High School, Secunderabad. The ritual everyday would be for her to say bye-bye to my baby sister just before leaving for work. One day she was in a hurry and she forgot to say bye-bye. My sister started crying inconsolably through the day. When evening came, my aunt came home and was quite surprised that her tata bye-bye would mean so much to my younger sister.
Of course from that day onwards my aunt was very careful to bid bye-bye to my sister if she were around.
My sister is having a gala time listening to her childhood stories narrated by my mom everyday. What bliss to revisit those days.
Cheers!
Mahalakshmi
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Spending Time Together
When I saw my sister push her luggage cart towards us at the airport, tears welled up in my eyes. Its been 5 years since we saw her last.
Keeping in touch over phone and e-mails apart, there's nothing like being together and spending time together. Doing special things for her is giving me so much joy.
She loves good food. Loves to eat outside. Vadai, bonda, parattha, phulkas and pulao are among her favourites.
How much fun she had last time, eating bondas and cutlets at the woodlands drive-in on her last visit. We shopped at Spencer's but ate at Woodlands on our way back home. She is so sad that it does not exist anymore. We will still visit to see the landscape and the trees in the new garden in its place.
I had planned to take her to maximum possible hotels within the 3 weeks she will stay with us. Chennai is bursting with so many places to try out good food.
The must-eat places which I must take her at least once are
Hotel Saravana Bhavan which I took her to yesterday itself. Each had a single bonda, vada and idli. She loved the sambar and the chutneys. I have always liked their strong filter coffee (with sugar :D).
She was amazed at the change with so many new buildings which have come up on most roads. She was clueless about roads and streets. It is for this reason I have decided never to let her go alone by herself in Chennai. I or someone will always be there to take her around. I remember the most pleasurable days I spent at her place in Ottawa in 1991. She took such good care of me. Even now I think I love Canada as a place to visit. Perhaps that was my first trip abroad and one loves the first place one sees.
Someone told me he loved London though he had visited USA and australia too. That is because London was the first place he visited.
Back to the places we will be visiting every evening, if possible, to try speaciality tiffins.
Grand Snacks for their hot and fresh boli and appams, etc.
Adayar Ananda Bhavan for ditto ditto.
Sri Krishna for their great tiffin combos which offer many varieties in one shot.
Sri Krishna's 'Rasam' restaurant for dinner one day.
Sanjeevani for a lovely, fresh and sattwic fare on offer is a must.
For that superb Hyderabadi Dum Biryani at Swati, Saravana Bhavan, Mylapore.
To the Pizza Hut for their crunchy, tasty pizza, breads and garden salad.
Nathan's one day for lunch perhaps.
Mathsya not to be missed time permitting.
The finale will be a lunch or dinner at the Copper Point at GRT Grand, a good place to eat at. The food is great there.
She has a big shopping list - to buy gold at GRT, clothes at Westend, kitchen ware at Rathna's, etc. I will have to juggle with hotels to fit in with her shopping list and areas she will have to visit. It requires a master plan indeed to do all of that.
There will some people who might invite her out to dinner or lunch.
Happy thinking of the happy times together.
Cheers.
Mahalakshmi.
Keeping in touch over phone and e-mails apart, there's nothing like being together and spending time together. Doing special things for her is giving me so much joy.
She loves good food. Loves to eat outside. Vadai, bonda, parattha, phulkas and pulao are among her favourites.
How much fun she had last time, eating bondas and cutlets at the woodlands drive-in on her last visit. We shopped at Spencer's but ate at Woodlands on our way back home. She is so sad that it does not exist anymore. We will still visit to see the landscape and the trees in the new garden in its place.
I had planned to take her to maximum possible hotels within the 3 weeks she will stay with us. Chennai is bursting with so many places to try out good food.
The must-eat places which I must take her at least once are
Hotel Saravana Bhavan which I took her to yesterday itself. Each had a single bonda, vada and idli. She loved the sambar and the chutneys. I have always liked their strong filter coffee (with sugar :D).
She was amazed at the change with so many new buildings which have come up on most roads. She was clueless about roads and streets. It is for this reason I have decided never to let her go alone by herself in Chennai. I or someone will always be there to take her around. I remember the most pleasurable days I spent at her place in Ottawa in 1991. She took such good care of me. Even now I think I love Canada as a place to visit. Perhaps that was my first trip abroad and one loves the first place one sees.
Someone told me he loved London though he had visited USA and australia too. That is because London was the first place he visited.
Back to the places we will be visiting every evening, if possible, to try speaciality tiffins.
Grand Snacks for their hot and fresh boli and appams, etc.
Adayar Ananda Bhavan for ditto ditto.
Sri Krishna for their great tiffin combos which offer many varieties in one shot.
Sri Krishna's 'Rasam' restaurant for dinner one day.
Sanjeevani for a lovely, fresh and sattwic fare on offer is a must.
For that superb Hyderabadi Dum Biryani at Swati, Saravana Bhavan, Mylapore.
To the Pizza Hut for their crunchy, tasty pizza, breads and garden salad.
Nathan's one day for lunch perhaps.
Mathsya not to be missed time permitting.
The finale will be a lunch or dinner at the Copper Point at GRT Grand, a good place to eat at. The food is great there.
She has a big shopping list - to buy gold at GRT, clothes at Westend, kitchen ware at Rathna's, etc. I will have to juggle with hotels to fit in with her shopping list and areas she will have to visit. It requires a master plan indeed to do all of that.
There will some people who might invite her out to dinner or lunch.
Happy thinking of the happy times together.
Cheers.
Mahalakshmi.
House Cleaning
Sorry for the break.
Sister from Canada was due to arrive on 27th and sons due to arrive on 31st kept me busy with getting help for cleaning home.
Two known housekeeping boys always help me out when I need their help. The best thing about them is that they don't need to be told what to do or how to clean or which chemical or solution to use to clean surfaces.
At 10am they started dusting, cleaning, sweeping, mopping the entire house. No messing with spilling or messing with lots of water either. Just half a bucket of soap solution and half bucket of plain water to rinse the duster cloth for each room. The rooms got cleaned like magic. The baths are sparkling like new.
I was so happy seeing the house getting neater and better. We had to shift furniture from one room to another to make more space.
They finished their work by 6pm sharp. Smiled when I pressed money into their hands. I pay them more than the market rate as its rare indeed to find men who know their jobs well.
I wondered at their stamina of continuously working like that for 8 hrs except for a half an hour break for lunch. Washing vessels one time a day makes me so tired. I defer the sweeping and mopping of rooms to the evening and at times skip it whenever my maid takes off. It requires hard labor and stamina to perform such physical jobs.
I salute their hard work. My house is clean once a while thanks to them. Wish they could come once every month to maintain the house neat and tidy.
Mahalakshmi.
Sister from Canada was due to arrive on 27th and sons due to arrive on 31st kept me busy with getting help for cleaning home.
Two known housekeeping boys always help me out when I need their help. The best thing about them is that they don't need to be told what to do or how to clean or which chemical or solution to use to clean surfaces.
At 10am they started dusting, cleaning, sweeping, mopping the entire house. No messing with spilling or messing with lots of water either. Just half a bucket of soap solution and half bucket of plain water to rinse the duster cloth for each room. The rooms got cleaned like magic. The baths are sparkling like new.
I was so happy seeing the house getting neater and better. We had to shift furniture from one room to another to make more space.
They finished their work by 6pm sharp. Smiled when I pressed money into their hands. I pay them more than the market rate as its rare indeed to find men who know their jobs well.
I wondered at their stamina of continuously working like that for 8 hrs except for a half an hour break for lunch. Washing vessels one time a day makes me so tired. I defer the sweeping and mopping of rooms to the evening and at times skip it whenever my maid takes off. It requires hard labor and stamina to perform such physical jobs.
I salute their hard work. My house is clean once a while thanks to them. Wish they could come once every month to maintain the house neat and tidy.
Mahalakshmi.
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