HAPPY BIRTHDAY DADDY!!! We love you more than words can express (so we won't even try). Hope you have a wonderful day and an even better year! All our love, Ayana, Syon & Mommy

Spring in Our Steps

Spring seemed to have followed us home from India as we enjoyed a wonderfully warm spell just before Easter. For a brief space, we were able to spend all our time outside, playing in the Close and enjoying Dada's barbecues in the garden.

One such sunny day, we celebrated Mother's Day with a big bouquet of beautiful dark pink tulips for Mommy (so huge she had to split it into two vases), and a book she's wanted for a while. She loved our presents but she was particulary thrilled to get our handdrawn cards. Syon made her a patchwork handbag card and I drew a pretty pink flower just for Mommy. And we made dinner for her too! With a little help from Daddy, we made a pizza from scratch, topping our homemade crust with cheese, tomatoes, salami, ham and olives. Mommy said it was the best she'd ever had!

But that lovely sunny spell was over before we knew it, and it was drizzling and grey again, even snowing on a couple of occasions!

Despite that the Easter weekend was delightful, with Daddy at home for four days, meeting 'Sashi Mashi' for the first time (sharing a dosa with her at our favourite South Indian restaurant and then chasing pigeons together in the central square) and then, of course, we spent Easter Sunday with the Handley clan which was as much fun as ever.

We bagged a load of scrummy chocolate Easter eggs on our Egg Hunt with Alex and Eleanor 'round Grandma and Grandad's garden (and that was on top of all the other delicious Easter eggs we received from everybody)! Mommy says we have to pace ourselves and make them last till Christmas like always, but this year we know where they're hidden!

One of the highlights of our Easter weekend was the Easter Bunny's visit on Monday afternoon, and you'd never guess what he brought us- a dolls' house, an absolutely gorgeous dolls' house, bigger than us, and for both of us, because the Easter Bunny doesn't believe in gender stereotyping (it is strange how the Easter Bunny, Santa and the Puja Fairy, all seem to agree with Mommy and Daddy on every issue, but when you're as busy playing as we are, you really don't have the time to dwell on these things)!

We love the dolls' house to bits but as with everything else we have devised our own games 'round it. Not for us conventional tea parties and slumber time for dollies. Our dolls' house has beds that fly, science experiments in the kitchen, dolls who climb out of the balcony rather than use the perfectly serviceable staircase and strangest of all, a horse, that has made iself at home in the bathtub!

The Best Exotic Didou-Dadu Hotel

But our fun in the sun started long before the Easter high jinks, with our trip to Bangalore and Kolkata in February-March.

First, we went to B'lore to see our Baby cousin Mia. Mia is an adorable baby with a beaming smile and big dark eyes. We told Ma-sheep that she had inherited Ma-sheep's big cheeks and big feet, much to Ma-sheep's delight. I think the rumpus we created startled Mia to start with but she soon grew used to the din, and even began to join in (this pleased Ma-sheep no end, clearly:-)). Mia took a shine to Syon especially (as he's bigger and she's not used to small people) and he in turn was very protective of her (which was fine with me, I got to do my own thing for a change, while he was mucking about with Mia)!

Meeting Mia was the best bit but we also enjoyed all the good food Ma-sheep served up. Our favourites were the ones beginning with D- dosa, dal and dalmut...with dollops of ice cream!

Our B'lore sojourn was only slightly spoiled by our synchronised, marathon puking in the taxi to the airport, to catch our flight to Kolkata. It was a long drive through crowded streets, and jet lag and travel sickness got the better of us. Daddy thinks it a pity that it's not a sport at the London Olympics this year, because he's convinced we'd be a shoo-in for the gold medal, if it were!

And then we were on our way to The Best Exotic Dadu-Didou Hotel, where every year we have had the warmest welcome, fantastic fun in the sun and the most mouthwatering dishes.

This year was just as good. There was sunshine everyday and visits from (and to) friends and family (Bilky Mashi who was in Kolkata, came up to play with us regularly, adding to the fun). There were presents aplently (beautiful clothes for the summer and terrific toys to keep us entertained in Kolkata and thereafter). There were many afternoons on the terrace riding our singing tricycle. And, of course, those thoroughly enjoyable trips to the Calcutta Rowing Club where we could run to our hearts content, eat our favourite strawberry-vanilla ice cream (and some spicy chilli chicken for the grown-ups that we really took to), and watch the geckos and birds and bugs enjoying the sunshine as much as us!

We enjoyed our visits to Budida and Pishi Dida downstairs although both were unwell this time, 'Binky Mashi' made up for it with her wholehearted involvement in our madcap games.

We also visited lots of groovy great aunts and uncles and a couple of gatherings called 'funerals' which we thought were quite nice too, with the pretty flowers everywhere and all the friendly attention we received, and they always had lovely songs to dance to (but everytime we did that, Mommy and Daddy seemed to take that as a cue to take us home for some reason)!

Poor Dadu was rushed off his feet this time with all the sickness amongst family and friends and not very well himself but he still found the time to play with us on the terrace, at the mall and at the Rowing Club. He was also the principal babysitter when I wanted someone to play with at the crack of dawn, and Mommy and Daddy opted for that truly rare thing in their lives; a lie-in!

Didou, of course, was the organiser-in-chief of all the fun we had (and the feasting). Alo-di, our longtime cook, was her very able assistant and an absolute wizard in the kitchen.

Every meal is a banquet at Didou's place. Each dish is delectable and rarely repeated. You actually have to put in a special request if you want an encore. In fact, Mommy starts a list of everything she wants to eat in Kolkata, months in advance (because, as every gastronome knows, there's no end to the different, delicious dishes you can dip into in Kolkata). Best of all, we learnt to make the perfect 'chapati' from Alo-di this time!

We have just enough time before dinner to tell you about the highlight of our trip to Kolkata this year and that was playing 'Dol'. The Festival of colours ('Dol' or 'Holi') is celebrated in the Spring in India and this year, we were old enough to participate.

Besides the food, the fashion and the get-togethers that are an intrinsic part of any festival in India, the festival of colours has a very unique and especially enjoyable feature (specially if you're kids who like messin')- the water fights! Masses of people come out of their houses to fling vividly coloured powder and buckets full of coloured water at each other. The colours are not harmful but they do take quite a few showers to wash off, so for days afterwards people go to work and school in exotic shades of pink, blue and green!

Because we are so young, we had to settle for a watered-down (haha) version of the mass waterfight but it was like nothing we'd ever experienced before and a barrel (literally) of laughs!

The whole family trooped to the terrace armed with buckets, pistons and packets of pink powder. And then when everyone was present and accounted for (except Dadu who pretended to have work so he could sneak up after the worst was over), we let loose!

No-one was safe. Everyone, including Dadu who joined us late, was drenched and a very pretty pink when we were done. Syon didn't think he was wet enough, so, kept pouring water over himself or sticking his head under the tap till the grown-ups decided he was begging for a proper dunking, but somehow I got caught up in it too, and we ended up as wet as two half-drowned kittens.

We didn't want it to end, but unfortunately, like all good things, it did, and we had to get washed and dry for lunch, but only after we'd been promised a waterfight on every visit!

So, now, we must say adieu, as we've got to get on with all the wonderful things we've planned for the next few months. And if, sadly, you aren't able to be with us for some of these, then do drop in on our blog where we will (when we get a moment) post reports and photos of the non-stop action that is our lives!:-)

P.S. Check out the films below, and watch this space for our new India-Easter-Etc. slideshow!