Letter to my princess - 17 years old!

 Dear thangam

You are 17! Unbelievable!

Your 16th year has been your most hardworking so far. You have sacrificed so many holidays, so many social engagements and fun on trips to buckle down and breakthrough the challenges in your learning journey.

You had a tough time deciding on your career path especially post your work experience. You had 2 weeks of A & E, GP, Surgery (2 hip replacements and 2 C sections!) and you thoroughly enjoyed them. This is on top of your week's work experience abroad. On top of this you had 2 weeks of work experience with a couple of dentists - one n*hs and one private ( a chain). 

You also did weekly volunteering at an old age home and made friends with loads of geriatric patients, sharing them your books and leading their exercises. Being great friends with our 80 plus year old neighbouring couple , really helped.( Pat did sweetly drop your carefully wrapped gifts and card ( it had a replica of our coco)yesterday, while you were doing your mocks upstairs!)

Your heart said doctor but your mind said dentist. You had clear reasons for both but it is still a tug of war!

You wrapped up your grade 8 singing and was appointed Poet Laureate for your school. You were also awarded a ‘ Future thought leader’ commendation award in an international essay competition. 

In your studies, you gave your maximum effort and some more, but the results were, as always, only above average and not the absolute best. ( Predicted two A stars and an A with an additional A star in your epq of ‘ Ethics of assisted dying - a debate’ )You are figuring out why and navigating the very tough path between who you are, physically and mentally ( with the diagnosis that has newly come in), with your ambitions and goals.

As always 'Resilience' is your middle name and though there have been tears, your bounce back is quick and sunshiny! I have admired your battles this year and know that this unrelenting grit is going to take you far in life.

You are, as of now preparing for a very important test - as usual, you have given it your all, but yet to have a breakthrough. Despite what the result might turn out to be, I am so, so proud of you, your effort, your resilience. Always.

6 plus weeks of summer, with only 'playing with coco' breaks, steady, consistent, gritty effort - I cannot ask for more.

I see you being the lone soldier, fighting long after everybody has relatively easily won their trophies. But fight you do and win you have, in the past - with four times the effort that others need to put in. I trust you this time around too.

All I do ask it to take more care of your health, your diet, your exercise regimen and your grooming. I know you have precious time left for these but please do make the time!

Our relationship still blows hot and cold. We took long walks this summer, in the evenings, after your long days of prep. We opened our hearts to each other and you were more a friend to me on these walks than a daughter. Thank you kuttima, I am going through my toughest phase yet and I needed that.

Our oldest friends have disappointed us a bit this year , but our new set of friends N, S, S and R have rallied around us - especially you. They have celebrated you, cheered you and N's grown up sons have continuously encouraged and cheered you on. As always, we cherish these moments and do not fail to remember that there were times when our oldest friends had done that as well, so it is all good.

Your life path has always been unique. Definitely not 'normal'. Appa and I did not realise that till this year revealed it. We now see what tremendous effort has gone from you in producing each of your achievements. What takes an hour's effort for people like appa and I, takes 4 hours for you and you have always put in 8 hours to bridge the gap and go further!

As always, march to your own drum beat my thangame and I will right by your side cheering you on, every step of the way.

Love you to the moon and back!

Amma

Egypt diaries continued..

 Day 5( 28th)

We started the day at 4.20 am along with another Scottish Family ( A teen, A primary school kid and their parents) on a minivan with packed breakfast. There were two drivers one took over the other at regular intervals. The roads were smooth and the sandstone hills on both sides with the dawn sunlight on them made the drive ethereal.

We reached crowded Luxor around 9 am as we had rest stops in between. Our tour guide , Sara took us straight to the Karnak temple and it was heaving to say the least. But we managed to enjoy the magnificence of the avenue of the Sphinxes, the open bud and closed bud columns, the magnificent statues with lively eyes, the sacred lake and of course R went around the Scarab 4 times to ensure her dream comes true ;)

From there we went by river Nile on the good boat ‘Titanic’ (!)for lunch where I promptly caught mild food poisoning. The veg fare was horrendous and the toilets in Luxor were a nightmare. 

We visited the Colosseum of Mennon ( mistakenly named by the Greeks as it was later discovered to be of Amenhotep iii), took some pics.

We then went to an alabaster factory, the translucent material which was used to make the canopy jars to store the organs, food etc. Made a small purchase for our memory.

We then travelled to the valley of the kings.  this was the best part of our trip. We visited King Seti,King Tut’s tomb, Ramses iv and Vi and Ramses ii’s  sons.

The vivid ochre, malachite, red and navy blue hues still impressively enchanting after nearly 3000 years was fascinating to say the least. It was wonderful to look at the images, enjoy the stories being told, the mythology represented etc.  Thankfully, because it was December, the tunnels were relatively ok, though we did sweat given the time we spent inside.

The frequent shuttles took us back to the entrance and from there we made our way to Hatshepsut’s  mortuary temple.

One of the lions at the entrance still has its lively eyes that look like they are gently observing the goings on around ! The day was getting cooler, so we enjoyed the open complex and got back to our 4 hour ride back to the hotel.

We were warned earlier not to make any eye contact with any of the sellers, so we successfully managed the multitude everywhere but what to do with those inside the tombs who insisted on taking our pics from our phones and then asked for baksheesh? The photos weren’t good either! Another sad state of affairs as otherwise the tombs were clean, well maintained with glass barriers keeping the visitors away from the reliefs on the walls.

Reached the hotel around 9 pm, deposited our bags in the room, changed and had the buffet dinner. My tummy was still not ok and I just wanted to get into bed and which is what we did.

Day 6 ( 29th)

We had booked a submarine and snorkelling for 10.30, so we whinged and complained and got up, had breakfast and got on to the ever prompt mini van. This time there were 2 Swiss couples who joined us. K and I had gone on a submarine to see the marine life , first in 2005 in Mauritius. Then, the sea was rich with colourful reefs and fantastic aquatic life that lifted your spirits. I went to Maldives with my colleagues in 2007 and it was equally good.

Since then, in the past decade, We have been to submarines in Rhodes, Andaman  and now here and sadly the coral reefs are all washed out, there is minimal colour and the acquatic life half of what we saw then.

R and K went snorkelling in the middle of the ocean as always but they said Madeira ranked first ( thanks Maththias!) followed by Rhodes, Mykonos ( Stephane’s beach) and only after that Hurghada. 

Came back had our first lunch in the hotel ( we had missed all lunched till date) , went back to the beach, lazed around in the sunbeds, I came to the room whereas dad and daughter lunged in the library. I wrote my blogs, caught up on news etc and we all went to dinner and I crashed after. K and R packed some of their stuff as they wanted to wrap up some rides in the aqua park in the morning while I tidied up the rest of the packing.

Day 7 ( 30th)

K had extended our check out time to 5 pm. We had a restful sleep, got up around 8 pm finished breakfast. R and K went to the rides, I tidied up packing. Around 11.30 I joined them on the beach. The water was crystal clear, I could see the fishes and the water was dense enough and warm enough for me to thoroughly enjoy floating and swimming. R being the little fish she is ,went back and forth till the end of the line and floated blissfully on her back in between. K went snorkelling again. The weather was perfectly warm and it was the   Exact relaxation needed on the last day. 

We got out of the water, had pizza , fries and ice cream from the beach snack bar and K and I left for our message. R wanted to lounge longer at the beach so we left her to it.

After our 90 minute massages, we rushed to have some snacks, took a shower, packed up and checked out of the room.

Out in the shuttle bus and reached airport by 5pm. 

After a really uncomfortable 5.30 hour flight starting at 9.30 we landed at 12.45 am and drove home to reach at 5pm.

Mind bogglingly, our dear R woke up and started studying again! She is really keen to do well and we really hope her efforts pay off! She is not a natural academic but only relies on her tremendous work ethic. Fingers crossed , she achieves her dreams.

Egypt diaries continued..

 Day 3 (26th)

Got up late, had lunch and lazed around. R has her manicure and pedicure and K and I just checked out the beach and library. R did 2 .5 hours of Chemistry first thing in the morning ( even k and I were impressed!). I Went to bed early, these two checked out the entertainment in the hotel.

Day 4 (27th)

R and I chatted and had breakfast. K skipped and slept in. We then went to the beach that was a 3 minute walk across the hotel. It was fabuluous! The water was rich in salt but crystal clear and we could see shoals of fishes. I floated on my back and these two went as far as they could snorkelling and swimming. The food at the beachside bar pizza, hot chocolate etc was anmazing! We changed and went to the other end on the floating sunbeds and read our kindles under the sun for a while.  

It was then time for our massages and her facial ( ready for Luxor the next day). We did the same, had our hairs washed and blow dried , ate a nice dinner at the aGusto restaurant and packed for the 4.20 am start the next day.

Some thoughts about Egypt. Everything is old and rickety but relatively clean and in working condition. The roads are smooth. Lots of sparrows everywhere which I believe indicates a good ecosystem. People are prompt and for cities and beaches with so many tourists, there is no garbage and the sites and beaches are very clean. The economy is interesting as even the tiniest stores accept euros, dollars and Egyptian pounds. The camel riders accepted cards! Smoking is widely prevalent and most women wore headscarfs and relatively conservatively dressed. The roads were smooth and well built as well , be it Cairo to Giza or Hurghada to Luxor.

In all it sadly seems like a wonderful infrastructure and  a citizenry with civic sense and a once great infrastructure, now all beginning to decline. 

Also surprisingly for a country that was under the British, English was not easily understood. There were fun moments where ‘dms dimples queen’ was described as a ‘dumbled queen’ and laundry collection ‘ day after tomorrow’ was replied with ‘ of course, tomorrow’ ( This happened a minimum of 5 times!)

Weather in December is dicey as well, as the wonderfully warming heat hits between around 11 and 3 pm but before and after it is like England in April. The sun is deceptively out and bright but the chill wind makes it unpleasant.

Egypt Diaries

 I slept early that night but woke up at 4 am to do my usual pre travel cleaning, mopping, dishwashing ritual.

All sorted and left to M?a Chester airport on time. Parked the car, checked in and had a lovely lazy brunch at G!raffe. Flight was slightly delayed but reached ‘Sinba£d Club’  Hu£rghada around 12 am as it was only 15 minutes from the airport. ( R spent 3.5 hours of the 5.30 hour flight studying her biology b!ble !)

Had late dinner , checked in to the room and crashed.

Day 1 (24th)

Just spent lazing around, checked out the hotel and booked spa appointments while R wrapped up some maths . They then went on the acqua par!krides while I relaxed by the pool. We all went swimming, K went for massage and R and I for hair. The Xmas eve celeberationsxwere on, so we just enjoyed the drinks, music, lights, decor and wound up around 10.30 as pick up to Cairo the next day was around 7 am.

Day 2( 25th)

We got ready bright and early, had the packed breakfast. The tour guide was on time and we were picked up in a Van where there were already a French family of a mum and two daughters. We boarded the flight to Cairo which was delayed and reached only by 11.30. Our guide Salamek was on time and we had the driver, car and guide to ourselves. The guide was an old gentleman, who was slow but very pleasant. We drove to Giza braving the Egyptian traffic.

We reached the pyramids. First R wanted a camel ride to the photo point but when she saw that the camels were flogged, she preferred the horse cart. The horses were not flogged as much, at least. We went by horse cart and reached the point where the pyramids were behind us. 4500 years of history was our background as we took some pics. It was breathtaking.

We went by shuttle nearer the pyramids and K and R went inside one of them. It was too claustrophobic for me so ai turned away at the entrance. K and R said they did not enjoy it either. It was too steep, dark and narrow  a climb and there was nothing at the end of it. Only K ended ended hurting his ankle and hobbling for days after! That was £20 euros per person we could have saved!

We then went to the sphynx. Once again it was an amazing view. Since the time I had read the ‘River God’ by Wilbur smith, I had wanted to visit Egypt and this trip was a dream come true. We took some pics and moved to the GEM.

As we drove from the sphinx to the GeM it was surreal as the entire drive we had a view of the pyramids at dusk. 

We opted to skip a sit down lunch and visits to the papyrus factory and perfume shops as we wanted more time at the GEM. We just had some packed croissants, juice and chocolate on the go in the canned instead.

The GEm as expected was fantastic and I saw live everything I had read. The ushabtis, the Ba and the Ka, the steales , the mask of Tut, the pectorals, the faience jewels, the beads, the thrones, the beads, hatshepsuts beard, the sarcophagus it was mind blowing to say the least! The cartouches in the statues, Ramses at the entrance etc were magnificent.

We wrapped up the GEM, had a sit down dinner at the cleopatra restaurant and went on a feluccacride on the Nile by ourselves. R  got some music played and it was a fabuluous experience with all the posh hotels around the Nile lit up for the new year! ( Foyr seasons, Sofitel to name a few)

We said bye to Salamek and drove through old town Cairo to the airport. It was a very painful 3 hour wait and we boarded the flight at 30 past midnight and landed at 2 past. Unbelievably the guide was waiting for us and whisked us straight to the hotel so we could crash gratefully.

December 2025

 Following K’ s recovery, he developed a slight impatience which we all noticed. The famously ‘ impressively patient’ K was developing chinks in his armour.  This term was busy too with R going for medical placements in W£arwick hospital and GP placement in N&ewtown hospital. These were busy days and the first time I saw her in a surgeon’s scrub shifted something inside me.

I still remember the struggle to keep her alive ‘in utero’ and my promise to God - if she was allowed to live we will make her save other lives one way or another.

She saw one hip replacement, two c sections, 1 rectal surgery and spent a day in A&E. She also spent a day with the GP and MSK services. She thoroughly enjoyed it all and would take the cab to the station, come back by train, get picked up by her dad and rush to me, excited to narrate her day.

As usual it was very entertaining - especially the one who blacked out and revealed haltingly ‘ I only had a pint, every half hour, for 7 hours the day before!’ ( in A & e) and the doctor who made the same ‘joke’ word for word in all his c sections :)

She also studied really hard, getting up early and doing late nights. In the parents meeting with her teachers her teachers advised we need to take her away as she is putting too much pressure on herself. 

She wrapped up her grade 7 singing but the tutor was going to be busy with her own performances so we had to find an alternate tutor for the final grade.

Thankfully we found one, but this term she promised would need a lot from R. 

R also went for a day long Xmas choir service, so the weekend was equally long as well.

I had moved from perm to contracting so once again, all 3 of us were in the phase of stretching ourselves and working our hardest.

So, we described at the very last minute to travel. We had one of our friends’ daughters half saree function in Tanjore and most of the gang was going. We would have loved to go but R said she could only spare a week so that plan was dropped.

We booked Egypt at the very very last moment and she had her GP placement wrap up the day before travel. She also studied for 3 hours after coming back from her GP work experience!Thankfully she had packed  the weekend before so at least that stress was spared!

The travel diaries to follow..