Merry Xmas!!

Merry Xmas to all!! Hope all of you had a great weekend!!

Love,

The Powai Warriers

Daddy's day at school

The stress levels were high for the past few days @ Hiranandani Gardens, Powai...
Why?

Daddy had been informed that he has been invited to my school for Daddy's day!! He lost it completely when he was told that we were to prepare and give a performance in the class!!

I took charge, and calmed him down. I suggested that we do a fusion mix- east and west. We planned to do a 'surya namaskar', followed by a salsa step. Just to make him feel better, I showed off my level of preparedness whenever I could... be it the road, garden, mall, parking lot... and we practised like there is no tomorrow!!

It was a bow and tie event, and I got a red bow for myself, and matched it with a red tie for daddy!

As far as footwear is concerned, we decided to go black.

Since it was a special occasion, I shampooed my hair for the extra shine and lustre.

Once we reached school, a lot of my friends like Hari, Agastya were already waiting and we decided to play for a while. I dared them to catch me if they could. Well, all I can say is that they tried :-)

Then, we went to our respective classes, and gossipped about our dads!!



We had prepared a couple of songs for our daddies. They were completely caught unawares and enjoyed our performance.


BTW, did I show off my hair and the special clips that I use for special occassions?



Even though I was prepared for 2 activities for our performance, I developed cold feet at the last minute. Wasn't sure if daddy would remember the 'surya namaskar' steps. So we did the salsa step, which was appreciated with a resounding applause!! There were shouts of encore... so we obliged with a repeat performance!! Unfortunately, we were too quick for the camera, and he could just about manage to take a blurred pic. I apologise to my readers for the aberration.



Shirley teacher has kept a surprise for us.... we had Santa pay us a flying visit and we got gifts :-)


The gathering closed with a few group pictures!



The adrenaline levels were high, and hence we did not want to go home immediately. So we decided to have some more fun!!

This is me with the gift I got from Santa! A yellow pencil box!!

Rose aunty was kind enough to take a pic of the two of us...

The readers may not be aware of my photography skills. Here, I give you a couple of examples of a very difficult subject- Daddy!!
You have to loosen him up before he becomes comfortable...

Once the loosening has been achieved, he is clay for me :-)

I taught him a thing or two about capturing silhouttes... he is a good learner.

I took a power nap, woke up, had a bowl of strawberries (that's the secret of my flawless skin) and pondered on the plans for the evening ahead...

Since Daddy was happy with the way the day had unfolded, he offered to take me to R-City. I had my usual popcorn and stuff. We danced and played some games like hide n seek, pakda-pakdi...

The day was full of pleasant things.... it ended with my favourite dinner item- Beetroot!!

What more can a girl ask for, on a cool winter day!!

Merry X'mas and best wishes for the year ahead!!

Annual Sports Day

... was quite an event.
I woke up early and got ready in time. So excited!!

I got to wear a green tee with black leggings. Daddy came to drop me off to school and then both mamma and daddy stood in line for an hour to get inside and get good seats. Nana Nani also joined in to watch the spectacular event!!

We did PT display as a group. I kept searching for mamma daddy in the huge crowd....



Then I noticed two people crazily waving their hands and shouting Pihu Pihu!!!
I was so happy to see them!!



The athletic events started after that... it was difficult to focus amidst so much noise!!



But focus I did! And ran the obstacle race with a lot of grace :-)


The second race was more lady like where we girls had to carry a 'lota' and go across...
Managed to locate mamma daddy again... they were so proud!

I presumed that it was a slow race and moved with a lot of grace and ensured that I did not allow anyone to come behind me!! But alas! It was not a slow race...

Mamma daddy were very proud of me and were waiting outside with a matching green balloon.

Then posed for a couple of pictures with Mamma and Daddy!



Overall, a very satisfying day!!

My girl is growing....

In preparation to the annual sports day at Pihu's school, her batch timings were shifted from afternoon to morning for a couple of weeks...which meant that I got the responsibility of dropping her to school.

A couple of days back, when Pihu and I were on our way to school, she picked up a small white flower on the road and gave it to me, and said "Give this to mamma. She will feel very happy".

Coming from a 4 year old, it was quite a pleasant surprise, and hence I narrated this to Nandita.
Turned mist-eyed, I guess...Baby is growing up.

Daddy.

My new red car!

This Dusshera was quite eventful.

Daddy said that L&T Financial Services was planning to come up with a new building for all Mumbai employees... and they had a foundation laying ceremony on Dusshera. Good for them.

The more interesting event was that I got a new red car!! Daddy wanted a boring grey (he says thats it a corporate, sober colour), but I managed to prevail over him. Phew!!

When we reached the showroom, my car was being given the final touches...
I liked what I saw.



I also did my own check. The rear-seats were comfy...

Did a quick check on the steering wheel. It was cool.

Once it had my stamp of approval, daddy took the delivery and we went home...

Murud Beach

First of all, apologies to all the fans who have been left in the lurch for the past few months.

I am back with an interesting update... My good friend Aarish came visiting India, and I took the opportunity to take him, Sajid uncle and Farida aunty, to this cute place in Murud. I selected this place because I'd been told that Aarish had not been to a beach.... me being a veteran decided that it would be a nice break for him :-)

Our first trip to the beach started with us having fun playing with the tools we carried to construct sand castles :-)



Then, Aarish was introduced to the sea, and he looked delighted. Made me reminisce my good old days...

Once the basic purpose of visiting the beach was achieved, we were back in the resort to have some 'real fun'.

That's us in the costumes, about to get started!!!

Both of us did some acrobatic tricks, like running for around 20 meters and then jumping in with the momentum. I am told that there were some observers from the Olympics committee who were on a holiday, and after seeing these stunts, have thought of introducing it in the next Olympics....

You can see the awed expressions on the faces of our dads!!

Then, there were some riding the horsie sessions, which were nice....

Back in the rooms, we had lots to achieve.
One of them was to hone our painting skills.... Sajid uncle had been thoughtful enough to carry a couple of canvases and we came up with some interesting stuff!

I had heard that Aarish loved stories so had carried a couple of my favourites.
Here, you see mamma regaling us with the story of the green dragon who could not breathe fire.... Such a funny story, and also with an interesting point of view that all of us are different and need to be appreciated for these differences, which could be an individual's strengths! I am told that Gallup has done some interesting reasearch in this area of strengths...

BTW, we did create a very solid sandcastle on the beach, just before we left.



There were news reports from Murud that the castle is so strong that it refuses to disintegrate! In case if you are visiting this beach, do remember to see it. It may be on the Guiness list soon...

Me dadima and TV

Let me clarify right upfront that I love my grandparents.

But there are minor issues with dadima, in the evenings, on what to watch on TV...

She loves those mallu soaps and I love CeeBeebies. Daddy clicked two pictures, when we were watching Asianet and CeeBeebies.

Wonder if you can guess from the pic on what's showing on TV...

Recognition and Dopamine

These guys in Gallup have done some interesting research on a topic called 'employee engagement'. One of the factors talks about an employee's need for recognition, and this recognition has to be periodic and timely, ideally once atleast in 7 days...

Whenever, you are recognised for doing some good work, a chemical called 'Dopamine' is released in your system. This makes you feel good about yourself. Many of us are not aware of the power of recognition. It's simple, it's cheap, and it's effective...

The other day, mamma gave me a dictation test, and the experience gave me mixed feelings...

Tests are always a little stressful... and you are always concerned about the feedback

Getting judged on your performance is never easy...

It's not a happy experience when someone else finds flaws in your efforts.

The difference between constructive feedback and a positive reinforcement is a fine line... Folks need to be careful about it. Afterall, we are talking about making a guy feel good or bad about himself/herself...

The circle of life

Pihu in the rocker as a small baby...

These days, Pihu has taken a fascination to photography and loves using the Canon. Looks like she has taken after her daddy...

Very recently, she clicked this picture of Dora in the rocker

Gave her parents a sense of deja vu...

Daddy proved wrong

A couple of posts back, daddy was not sure about the school uniform and found it a tad bit ordinary. However, he has been proven wrong (once again!!).

Now, daddy believes that it is the subject wearing the dress that makes the dress beautiful, and not vice-versa ...

Proof attached.