Letters to my young lady 11

Patumma, ammu

Where do I start. You wrote some big exams in 2019 Sep/ Oct. On the 4 th Oct you received big result 1 for your grammar school. Very happy. Good enough to qualify in the above average range. First academic scholarship interview letter on 10 th Oct. 2nd Academic scholarship interview letter on 16th Oct. On 19th Oct, second grammar result. Once again, well above average.

We know you are definitely not in the genius category. You are that smart kid who works relentlessly to produce results while being always upbeat! To that teacher who said ‘ She is really good in English and maths is fine but NVR will not get her in to grammar’ Ma’am you simply do not know children ,especially not my daughter. She does not understand ‘can’t’. Another thing she does not know is how to hold a grudge. She still likes you. But sorry, I don’t.

You did not like her because she would politely but firmly question you when you calculated her marks percentage wrong. She also challenged you when you tried to bully her.

You thought being the tiniest and youngest, she should defer to all older kids and adults. She, rightly thought otherwise.

Well, my puny one is gigantic in her heart. We see her as Wonder Woman and so does she. How you saw her was solely your problem, not hers.

All of the above pattumma, parallelly  you qualified for the county in badminton , achieved Lamda grade 2, bharartnatham grade 2, singing grade 3, Kumon E ( you started Kumon late July and we did not attend in October) and swimming silver. And the joy of life is still bubbling inside you.

The head teacher of KH was very impressed with your interview and shook Daddy’s hand and said how proud we must be of you.

You had happily suggested additional books for their school library and how to make their learning environment more fun. He particularly identified how you were clearly a child with a child’s perspective and belief in making everything happier and nicer for children.

You are never that top student , top player, top musician. But you are above average at a lot of things. 

And being cheeky and happy , no matter what, well, in my head you are the top of the top in that!

No matter who says you can’t ( including me) , hopefully you would look back at this time and say, ‘ Well , people have always been telling me that, poor sods’ and March your happy march of life blithely proving us all wrong...

Now we know why we waited for you for so long chelame..

Good things take time..;)

Love you loads

Amma

Trip to Algarve continued...

The next day we rushed through breakfast and set off to zoo marine park. To her delight she received a call from our friends and their little ones in Chennai to wish her happy birthday in advance!

On reaching zoo marine, we were not disappointed. For such a crowded place, the people were polite, the toilets and shower rooms were clean and food was more reasonably priced than even outside!

The young one went for her Dolphin emotions experience where she made the dolphin dance, she swam on top of one and kissed one and had a whale of a time. There were only 5 to a group and it was very well organised though expensive.

A gentleman proposed to his girlfriend by using a dolphin to give her the ring.so that was sweet as well..

We then stood in a queue for half an hour only to dodger we were standing for the wrong ride. But we still enjoyed the gentle Jurassic ride and went for the pirate shoes, the dolphin show ( though we have seen the Florida one, the Barcelona one, the Dubai one  etc this one was still ballet like  and mermaid dance like and different) the sharks and sea anemones and water dragons etc. Dad and daughter then spent some time on the artificial wave beach..we still were not done with the dolphins and went for yet another little dolphin 4d show. We had crepes and orange juice and then towards the fab end, we went back to the sea lions and the young one raced with them very cutely.. calling out from this side of the glass fence every time they roared, ‘ No, no, don’t complain..I won this one fair and square!’  ;)

We then went to a Michelin starred restaurant as K wanted to try the fish there and the wine. We were happy tired and crashed in the hotel once back.

The next day was the big 2 digit birthday so the young one woke us all up at 3.40 a, suddenly having woken up with the excitement of having turned 10! Lots of fun and blessings later , time to pack, have breakfast and leave. She told everybody and anybody who would listen..I am a big girl and have turned 10 today!

The phone was buZing from the morning with wishes for her from everybody!

Back home to a surprisingly boiling hot  city, noodles and subway for lunch for the happy birthday babe, cake, a little prep for the mock the next day and off to sleep!

PS

The young one loves Calvin and Hobbes. So, when 2 years back,her friends R and K gifted her a lioness soft toy in Singapore, she immediately named her lily rose and treats her exactly like Calvin treats Hobbes. She has conversations with lily rose, takes her cycling, treats her kindly, takes her to bed etc.

At Algarve, lily rose got dunked in the sea and buried in the sand and sadly her eye came off. Typically, ( very practical and happy go lucky) the young one said, never mind, I am always going to love her and let’s just get another friend for my double digit ages!

But K was not going to spring for yet another soft toy, so he super glued the eye back once we were back home. So now, Lily rose is back by the young one’s side, the beach dunk and burial merrily forgiven;)

Trip to Algarve

For the young lady’s 10th birthday we went on a 4 day trip to Algarve, Portugal. We love Portugal and its people so much that this is our third trip to the country. We are seriously thinking of buying a property there as we are yet to see a more friendly, respectful and secure people anywhere else. And we have been to and lived in a few countries, to say the least.

On day one, we reached the 3 h b fales@ia hotel in Olhas d agua. It was an 8 am flight so we reached at 11. Our conscientious young one finished her Kumon on the flight. So, as soon as we landed, it was straight to the pool. The hotel was positioned on a cliff over looking the sea, so the view was quiet good. The weather, as expected was boiling hot in the high 20s. After the pool,  some pizza from the snack bar and changing in our spacious and clean room, we tried walking down the steps to the beach. However it was pretty late by then and people were coming back, so we decided to just take a rain check.

Though we went for the standard room, it was spacious and pleasant. The sea facing rooms were not refurbished and those blocks did not have a lift so it all worked out good.

K had fever the previous few days, but still had been at work..I had been running around sorting the new uniform and my Diwali stitching and the young one had badminton camp for the previous two days, where she played for 4 hours each so, we were all knackered.

Also, with a lot of effort from all of us, the young one had made giant leaps in her scores in the k.  Sol last mock test and the inspire mocks 7, 8 and 9 , so we were in a well deserved rest phase ;)

We went in to town to have dinner at  taste of Punjab, where the food was tasteful enough. 

After a restful sleep, The next day we had breakfast overlooking the cliff. We love the food in Portugal usually, but the standard here was  not as good as Madeira or Lisbon but still higher than any other country’s Hotel. The fruits especially were of a very high quality. But no variety of nuts for my porridge or hash browns for the little one.

After taking a few snaps, we went to the beach, played a bit and then we set for our dolphin watch to Albufeira..  we were supposed to go horse riding but that didn’t work out. Though the boat trip was pleasant enough and we saw the cathedral caves and the secret caves formed by rocks that were more than 20 million years old and we loved the submarine and Sphinx rock formations, we could not spot a single dolphin.

We had a quick lunch nearby and also lots of pastries at the famous cafe creek cafeteria ( nothing extraordinary but reasonable enough)and made our way back to the hotel. Dad and daughter went for a swim, I read my Good earth yet again and then went down to join them for the walk to the beach. I took my usual morning my walks in the beach while they rested and played in the waves.

They went for Thai dinner while I had the remains of their pizza from the pool and read my book.

Letters to my young lady 10

Dear Kannamma

You are at the grand old age of 10! You are so proud of this that you mentioned this to all whom you met at the restaurant and airport on our trip to Algarve.

 Though you achieved a distinction in bharathnatyam grade 1, singing grade 2, lamda grade  2, bikeability, swimming silver  and badminton county selection for under 12s this year and piano grade 1 ( the year before last) is already in your kitty..we have taken stock and decided that you would like some other instrument and not piano, bharatnatyam is not what you want and acting lessons and stage coach is what you would like to go for this year. While continuing singing, lambda, badminton and swimming.

You have worked really hard for your eleven plus this year, only to gauge your standard as we already passed the exam to the school we want to go. In maths , you have found a way to tackle time pressure. You now choose only those sums that you know you can do relatively fast and you get them all right. That way despite leaving out one or two sums, you are still scoring really high! Well done Kannamma.

This is typical you. Not getting bogged down by problems but figuring out a way that does not require you to compromise your basic nature. Resilience, perseverance and an intense joy in life are still your core characteristics.

Love you to the moon and back pattu. May each year of your life be happier and filled with more joy and kindness and love than the year before!

Bless you my bundle of joy!

Love
Amma

15th July 2019

An important day for the young one. She got through the selections for the county badminton squad for under 12s. As usual, jumping, smiling and skipping..with not a single aggressive or seemingly ambitious bone in her body!

Let’s see where this takes us Kannamma..

Post birthday break

As part of the birthday celebration, my friend D and I planned to take off to a spa break for a night away from the mad crowds that our families were ;)

We took off around 4 pm on the Friday and it was a fun  30 minute drive of giggles and laughter to New?.?Hall hotel and spa. It was a 12th century castle with a moat and wonderful woods and lakes around. There was an old and charming church in the premises as well..

We checked in and immediately took off to explore the woods. The weather was warm with an occasional cool breeze.After a lovely long walk, we changed to our swim suits and visited the sap. It was a small and cosy set up with a swimming pool, sauna and staeam room. We had the pool all to ourselves.. we swam for around 45 minutes and checked out the steam room a bit and went to shower and change for dinner.

Went down to the old and charming dining area..we were given sample wines to try before ordering get and to our shame that in itself made us tipsy! We ordered the area’s famous driftwood cheese, polenta cake for me as main, sea bass for D, and  for dessert we had dark chocolate parfait. While the food was different, adequately tasteful and service warm, the cost was a bit too high for the quality delivered. But we had a great time chatting and laughing and came back to our room around 11 pm.

We changed to our night clothes and as it usually happens with all of my friends, chatted well in to the night . We should have fallen asLet only around 2 or 3. A’s was my habit, I was promptly up at 6.45.

Showered , changed and went down for a really sumptuous English breakfast, fruits, pastries rounding it off with fresh waffles with maple syrup. We once again visited the well loved grounds, (especially since it was such a glorious morning with the sun shining brilliantly)took some pictures and checked out at 12 with the intention to come back around 4pm for the luxury facial that was part of the deal.

In the meanwhile, D had caught a really bad case of hay fever. So we we went to the pharmacy for tablets and eye drops . We ditched the idea of visiting Kingsbury grounds and instead opted for the local mall. We went window shopping, D purchased some gifts, we had some milk shake and macaroons for lunch and covered topics we had not yet managed like movies, books, travel etc. Around 4 we went back to the grounds , enjoyed the scenery a bit more, read our books and wen tin for the facials at 5.

It was genuinely one of the most relaxing facials we had ever had. We gave the feedback to the young ladies, took a picture of our rare rlaxed faces and smiles and took off home.

All in all, a small, sweet and overall fantastic break.

Out of the mouths of babes..

It being my birthday..we had all gone to Ask ? Italian for lunch. K keeps quizzing the young one on the value/ cost of each item so she understands the relative worth of goods and services. At the end of today’s quiz..the young one pipes up ‘What would be my value?’

I started thinking, as I wanted to tell her how precious she was at the same time..how difficult we find it to handle her cool, unemotional naughtiness and cheekiness. While I am thinking how to frame the answer..she again quickly pipes up cheekily ‘ Please make sure you say a value more than 50 pounds, so you do not hurt my feelings ok?’

You had to be there to see her expression and tone of voice..

K and I almost died laughing:)

Easter 2019 - days 4 and 5

Day 3 dawned bright and sunny and the plan for the day was to visit the heads of Ayr farm park.  We went there around 10 am and the kids had a blast for the rest of the day. The young one particularly enjoyed feeding a pony called Merry Legs. She would go to the open trampoline, visit the other animals, go on the slide etc but always check on merry legs every now and then and feed her from the palm of her hand.

The weather was unbelievable for scotland especially for easter. We then went to the nearby Ayr beach where the young one got messy building sand castles and spotting washed up Jelly fish while K and I took our favourite long walk along the beach.

We had determined that these 4 days were a complete holiday for the young one  - with no studies and no food restrictions and most importantly no telling-offs from mum. She had a complete blast but hand on heart I could say that she was very sensible and though she opted for junk, she did not go overboard. She was extremely polite to our hosts, cleared her plates after she ate, cleaned the sink and tub after her brush and bath, thanked them when warranted and was sweetly well behaved with no prompts from either of us.

What was even more endearing was how she teased the shy little boy out, gently coaxing him to open up and devising games that he would enjoy as well. Being 5 years older, she could have easily bullied him ( as most older kids do with her) but she was gentle, sweet and friendly throughout. She did not 'mother' him but was a good and caring older friend. I was super proud of her and so was her dad.

We went to Akbar's for dinner and it was a refreshingly good experience after our previous night's debacle.

Our host P had to leave for work the next morning, so we said our good byes and left the next day. Once again we stopped at the Gretna green services for some refreshments and then made our way to the Lake district. The weather was so glorious, that we wanted to make the most of it.

Once again, we had been to Beatrix Potter land a while back, but we loved it so we visited the lake again. I did not want the ferry but preferred to walk around the lake. The young one gaily fed the ducks , we had our walk, enjoyed the beauty of the blooming trees, the green grass and the rolling hills, chit chatted our way around the lake and drove back home knackered and ready to fall into bed around 9 pm.

All in all, a wonderful holiday ( the cheapest we had ever had but one of  the best :) and another one notched up to keep us warm and light on cold and dark days :)

Easter 2019 Days 1,2 and 3

Unlike the last 10 easters that we have been here.. this easter was a bright and sunshiny one and hence the best of them all :). Though our friends had all planned for Tenerife, we chose the path less taken this easter and planned to visit JK Rowling's original haunts at Edinburgh. One of our friends kindly invited us to stay with them at their house, so the matter was settled.

On the Thursday, the young one finished her mock test review and her badminton class and swimming session at DL. She has already finished her bronze level of swimming and loves to swim just like that any chance she gets. Once in the water, it takes  atleast an hour if not more before I can successfully coax her out.

She was excited since her friend D was visiting her from Shropshire. Unfortunately, D's dad was a medical director and had some urgent issue to attend to and could not leave till 6 pm. While the restless young one was trying to engage herself otherwise, D and her family came walking in, having luckily zipped through the non peak traffic window for easter.

And what a evening it was! We grownups had a fun time chatting and laughing and eating dinner and sipping our drinks till 2 am in the morning. The next day, D's dad mentioned how it had been a long time since they had laughed so much and how the tension of the meeting had drained away from him over the course of the evening. We felt something similar as well.

The young ones completely sorted themselves out, despite meeting after almost a year. I went up to sleep at 2 am and could still hear them giggling and chatting till 3 am!

On day 2 all of us woke up around 9 am, had a leisurely breakfast of brioche bread and egg for the adults and nutella, brioche bread and cold chocolate milk for the kids. D and family left around 2 pm. We had our stuff packed and ready, so we cleaned up the house, locked up and left around 3 pm for our  drive of 4.30 hours to Glasgow. The weather was glorious, the young one needed her sleep, so she stretched out at the back with her pillows .. while K and I chatted, listened to music and enjoyed the drive.

We stopped at Gretna Green for a comfort break and then reached glasgow around 8.30 pm. The lady of the house, H was 8 months pregnant and the little boy was around 5 years old. Our young one, immediately struck a friendship and started playing with him while we had dinner and quickly went to bed.

On day 3, we had a quick breakfast and let H relax while the rest of us drove from Glasgow to Edinburgh. We had some lovely french toast, mac and cheese and milkshakes at Mimi's cafe at Edinburgh, took some snaps around Victoria street that was the inspiration for Diagon alley and then visited Edinburgh castle.

We had been there when the young one was around 3 and I fell in love with St Margaret's chapel and the stained glass painting of Queen Margaret there. So I took the young one to see the same, we then visited the crown jewels, the cannons etc and also the boy wizard shop on the way down.  We had some icecream and the kids played around for a bit.

On the way down we discovered we have lost our shuttle tickets..rare for K as he is usually diligent with stuff like this. We walked down instead and visited the Elephant house where JK Rowling wrote her HP drafts. The young one was the first to spot it and she seemed quite inspired by the whole visit. We then made our way to Victoria street- the museum context store, took some pics in front of trhe chamber of secrets mirror and the hogwarts school desk, bought a souvenir pen for the young one and walked further down the road to anothermerchandise shop and a disney store to buy a batman doll for the little boy who had been patiently doing the HP franchise tour for the sake of our young one.

Throughout the trip, the young one used this pen to write int he notebook gifted to her by D. She was spinning a story of mermaids under the sea..

We then visited Greyfriar's Kirk cemetry and managed to spot the names McGonagall, Tom Riddle and Helen.

We managed to then visit the porto bello beach for the little boy and given the weather was glorious , we had a good time at the sandy beach.

Drove back home, changed out of our sandy clothes and both families went to to Rishi's for dinner. A worse experience in dining we had never had. The food was bad, delayed and the service confused. The kids nodded off even before we could make our way back. We chatted a bit and went to bed happy and tired.

..To be continued

Letters to my young one..9

Chellamma

You know what has been going on for the past few days.. You have worked so hard, harder than anybody else we know ( because they say so and you gave up reading, tele time, free time etc and I, who  has always taken pride in working hard, am amazed at the kind of work ethic and stamina you exhibit). You come back from school, read a bit for pleasure/ go on your bike for some time if it is sunny  and sit straight after on maths, every single day. You work for 4 hours straight with your friends on a weekend  , come home and sit straight after, working at Maths again for 3 hours. The maths concepts are being taught at an exponential speed and you work hard at it because you like to understand the concept , explain to daddy and then do your sums. You do not like to rush, especially when it comes to Maths.

All this effort, despite knowing that you have already got in to a school , so there is no desperate drive for it.

You simply want to do it.

At class, you help your friends understand these concepts because you are so clear about them.When discussing something in real life, like time for a flight or change to be given or percentages achieved you clearly explain these to us and give us the answers.

However, your scores, though above average  , are not at the top of the class. You know the concepts earlier, you know them well but when it comes to timed tests, your mistakes become inevitable.  Children who have learnt from you, who have made half the effort as you have, score better than you.

It breaks my heart to see that all your effort means only half the result. But, that is silly, ordinary, insecure me. You my darling, never let the smile leave your face. You are proud of the bits you got right, you want us to help you avoid mistakes and with that, you are done and dusted. You pat yourself on the back and give yourself a half-an-hour bike ride as a reward for all your hard work :)

Not once, not even once are you jealous of your friends or bitter about your results.

And that gorgeous smile and silly jokes and sunshiny confidence - none of these miss a beat!

Because, in your head,  tomorrow is always going to be better and you are simply going to try again.

Hats off!

You tell me often that I inspire you. Kannamma, let me tell you, I have been inspired by many people in the journey of my life, but none more than you. I live with you, I see you, I made you , I scold you, I love you and yet... I sit amazed by your extraordinary approach to life.

Surely no credit to me or your daddy. We teach you little things, you take them and make it something much more than what we give.

Some day sweetheart, all these seeds will flower and bloom and that day - what a garden you are going to have. I will learn from you and wait patiently for that day and mend my broken heart with your smile.

Love you da thangame!
Amma

The imperfect crime

So, one of my close friends is from Gujarat and she had cooked a bitter but very healthy spinach almond cake that is supposedly good for kids. She had given some for us. I came home and warned the cheeky one that it was a bitter Indian cake but I would really be happy if she ate it.

Astonishingly surprisingly she said ‘ fine amma’ and took it to her room upstairs. I did hear a small thump but I though it was the birds on the roof or some such thing..The empty plate came down after a few minutes and all was well.

Two days later, K happens to look up while sitting in the conservatory and a small shape suspiciously resembling the spinach cake could be seen clearly on the conservatory frosted glass roof.

He takes the CM aside and asks her twice..’ Did you really eat the cake?’  Wide and innocent puppy eyes take centre stage and a vigorous defence of her righteous self ensues....till the shape on the roof is pointed out!

So, the CM had very stealthily and with great planning, carried the cake upstairs, tasted a small bite, concluded eating the cake was too great a sacrifice for a mere 9 year old , taken an executive decision and thrown it out of the bedroom window not realising that it falls right on the conservatory roof, the dining room adjacent to which is where we all spend most of our time in!

Though lots of lecturing on the importance of being truthful and not cheating happened, K and I can’t stop laughing (carefully only when the CM is not around) at the sheer childish innocence that runs through all of her actions and thoughts..even when it is in the planning of a petty crime!

Letters to my princess 8

Ammulu

What a year this has been so far!

You wrote a competitive exam, came out and said ‘Amma, I did really well..they will definitely want me. English comprehension, mental maths, maths problems and creative writing..I did really well’.

I advised you not to be over confident and viewed your comments with lots of scepticism. I also said that there were limited spaces available, so it really depends on how well the others had done. But you insisted, very innocently and as a matter of fact ‘ But I did really well amma!’

And guess what, it turns out you did do really well. Not only did you get an offer, we have also been led to believe that you have a chance of cracking the scholarship exam next year ;) (they only offer scholarships from next year, for senior school)

What confidence in a 9 year old and with what grace! What I do not fail to remember kanamma is how much you have worked hard for this! You are no born genius. You are the youngest in your year, you have convergence issues in your eye and your high energy leads you to prefer swimming and cycling to sitting still and studying. Yet, here you are, never giving up, always persevering, ever resilient  after failures and mummy’s reprimands and full of optimism and that bubbly happiness deep within you...

Your teacher reports the same ‘ popular, resilient and persevering’ . Your head teacher says you ‘ work uniformly hard at anything give to you’. What life skills pattuma!

Not just this you also managed to get in to the county selections for your favourite sport - badminton! As always , when you walk into court, the other kids look down upon you due to your puny size and innocent , naive friendliness. But then I see everybody’s reaction transform in front of my eyes as you start playing  :) I have always showed you Susan Boyle’s BGT video and the audience reaction , to teach you not to care about comments and put downs but go and reach for the stars. That is exactly what you do and how!

The other kids are competitive, aggressive...so I suggest to you that may be you should copy some of that and you turn to me and say clearly ‘ Amma, I love the game and I want to enjoy playing it well.. I do not want  pressure or competetion or aggression. I believe I can win like this as well’. Wow. So clear. So clean. Am so glad you are who you are. In fact I am in awe of your indomitable spirit and clarity of thoughts.

You win ovations from your teachers and class whenever there is a creative writing task and you are zooming in maths as well. You are eager to be independent and very eager to start cooking.

But, keeping to time is still a battle. When a class tarts at 6 pm or school starts at 10 to 9, time does not magically stop and wait for you to skip and dance and chat about your class mates and their shenanigans. You have to be ready and in the car by a certain time!

The years roll on, you grow mature and kind and absolutely lovely but this lack of punctuality does not seem to improve!

When do you plan to win this one chitlu?


Love you to the moon and back

Amma