Happy Birthday Sid!

Happy birthday Sid! So you turned 22 today! What a long way you have come from the days when you were so cranky that you never left your mom's lap even for a second. That was the initial year or so. And then, once you got out, you have steadfastly refused to return to any lap! And look happy about it!

The day coincides closely with your embarking on a new phase of life - a new life actually! The expedition to move to South Africa to acquire superior academic knowledge and credentials has entirely been your effort. It is you who have washed up mom and me onto this shore with your enthusiasm. All that Dada-Dadi, Chachaji and all of us have done is to stand by on the sidelines and applauded to encourage you on.

I am delighted to detect such joy in your voice about the studies and the rigorous regimen they are putting you through. Life of genteel poverty, that might stretch for 2100 days or so, can only lead to immense life-long success. And we are certain that you are well and truly on your way.

So happy birthday once again. And we are waiting to see you atop new peaks!

Dad

PS - And oh, I thought I will put up some of your pictures that will make you very happy. So here are these:

I could upload many more, of course....and perhaps later will. For now these will do!

Pictures From Cape Town

Sid has sent these pictures from Cape Town of his apartment.

The house.

The entrance to the room.

Sid's room - clearly before he began to live in it! 

Ginger At 5 Months

Ginger.
Born 19 Sep 11.
Designed by nature as a Beagle.
Magically transformed into a destroy-all-you-can mini Demolition Squad of one!

Weight and Watch

I now return to a topic that has followed me all my life - my weight! The battle of the bulge has been fought for decades, mostly without will or focus. Whenever I did turn on my resolve, the results have been spectacular - while it lasted!

Just after Abhishek's wedding I told Pallavi that the landmark moment - strangely and unaccountably - had inspired me too to do something big and new. Well, I have taken a couple of months to arrive at the start point - but arrived at it I have! Hence this public commitment to begin getting fit in small but measurable and visible increments.

How much do I weigh? It ought to be a state secret because even I find it hard to believe that I have allowed all those kilos to insidiously creep up and sit down on me. But the fact is that I weigh 105.4 kilos in my night clothes, as weighed-in before breakfast this morning. Whew! That calls for a loss of 35.4 kilos over an year - or more than a third of me!

And here I am, at my inglorious best!

I have a plan that revolves essentially around controlled and healthy eating but also relies on regular (daily) exercise regimen to speed up my Basal metabolic Rate.

So get ready with your encouraging and motivational remarks as I begin my final weight loss.

And do watch this space!

New House

Abhishek and Pallavi are currently house-hunting in Gurgaon, in anticipation of his move in a month.

A continent away, Sid is also moving into his new 'house' today. On reaching Cape Town, Sid appears to have hit the ground running - completing his college registration, joining classes and now shifting into his one-room accommodation! As I key in these words, he is preparing for his first class test, scheduled for Monday.

Sid has promised pictures of his house. Soon.

Dadiji Raises An Alarm....Sort Of!

In the wee hours of the 16th, Dadaji noticed that Dadiji was breathing in a very laboured way. He tried waking her up but that also did not seem to work for a while. Naturally, an alarm went up in his mind - and ours in Delhi, where I was due to attend an official conference in the day - and it was decided that her condition warranted a closer look by the doctors. Hence, even before dawn broke, she was shipped to the Army's hospital, Dadaji bravely in tow.

The good news is that after comprehensive tests and observations for three days, the doctors have deduced that it was just one of those things, a bit of an aberration, and that she is fit enough to be discharged. Which is just as well because with the passage of each moment, she was getting more restive than a child waiting for school's closing bell! The fact that she had a private 'VIP' room did not help as she would have preferred the company of a couple of patients, each sharing her chronicle of medical experience! And that solitary small TV, mounted on the wall, could not keep her attention either - her daily dose of soaps is no longer acceptable on a small-screen TV.

So here she is, posing for me. Don't let that pensive look fool you - that has been her chosen stare for all cameras since 1930!





And now, three days of suspense later, she is back, all set for the 5 PM tea and string of her favourite tear-jerkers on the TV that tell us all that we don't want to know about relationships and are always bursting on the seams with melodrama and nerve-jangling music.

The picture below was taken as she reached home and stepped out of the car - looking every bit a general who has returned after vanquishing an army of foes. Hence the upright flag on the chariot!

Sid Is In Cape Town Now

This morning, just as Chachaji was disembarking from the Singapore Airlines flight at Delhi, Siddharth was somewhere between Dubai and Cape Town. He later landed there to begin an important phase of his life - or as he put it 2300 days of solid hard work! He is currently staying with family friends - the wonderful Parkers - and will move into his apartment in a couple of days. His college is already on. All the very best Sid!

Chachaji is here for Rita's son Mayank's wedding. This morning, over barfi and alu ka parathas, weight of 'certain' family members was the object of much of the conversation! All this wonderful display for our collective concern for health just hours before everyone launches into an unbridled orgy (sorry but this word describes it best) gluttony as rich wedding-cuisine is imbibed in obscene quantities!

And as this goes to 'press', the news is that Abhishek is relocating (Army guys 'get posted', most people 'move' and those in the corporate world 'relocate) to Gurgaon. The transition will happen in a month or so. Finally, he moves from what-the-Army-would-have-called the 'non-family station' of Mumbai to join up with Pallvi.

More on this later.....

  

Pallavi!

Pallavi recently participated in the Super Bikers' Event at New Delhi and was featured in the Times of India. Go to this link!

http://photogallery.indiatimes.com/events/delhi/Superbikers-event/articleshow/11793029.cms



We are all very proud of you Pallavi!