Past Forward - Part 1

Good old school and collage days! One is without the constant worries of raising children, without the need to attend to daily household chores, without the hassles of an income providing job. Yes, you do have exams and competition to live with, but i would trade them any day for my terrible two's darling :) But life does go on, does not stop at any stage or at any person. It is in the present that one must live because only then will you give your 100% to each day.

Well as i am in my mom's house i thought of capturing all the art and craft i have done. These pieces were done when i was a stranger to the Internet and when i had ample free time. When everything was taken care of by my parents and the only thing i had to do was study/eat/play and any other thing which kept me out of trouble!!

This is done using simle satin stitches. The only thing it needs is patience. I was quite fond of this and did it with lot of attentioning to details. Feel good and relaxed when I look at it.

Modern art had caught my fancy for a very brief while. The below painting is of Lord Ganesha, who is considered the giver of Knowledge and Wisdom. His trademark sweet offerings is also visible. The flowers used to worship Him are done using Block Printing from blocks i had picked up on a visit to Mount Abu in Rajasthan.

Red poppies are one of my favourite flowers. This painting was done one random night when i was totally bored and needed some color to brighten up my mood.

 It now adorns a wall in my parents house :)

Another painting or rather a sketch is the Trees below. I had real fun doing this one.

Seeing all these paintings makes me want to take up a brush and paints again. It is immensely relaxing and calming to paint. With every stroke of the brush magic can be created.

Comming back to my current crochet project, a few updates here. I have followed Lucy's Granny Stripe Blanket. The pattern is here. I am having loads of fun chosing the colors for this. Every new stripe gives me the a new color rush - literally. Since this is a gift i am not putting up the entire piece here but just a teaser ;)

A happy Sunday to all and hoping that everyone's life is very colorful!

More paintings and art work in my comming posts :)))





Day out with my girl

 

Weather in Bangalore seems like a stranger to me. What used to be a rainy pleasant month has turned into a scorching ,blazing and energy sapping one. It becomes difficult to even think of venturing out before evening.The good part of the day is best spent in the comforts of our home, indoors where everyone is happy and the AC is buzzing away. Before in this city AC's were considered an unnecessary item just crowding up the wall. Now it is more of a must-have in all homes.

Commercially also the city has expanded beyond imagination. A new destination in town seems to be the ORION Mall situated in the heart of the city. Overlooking the famed ISKON temple this integrated township is truly international in its standard. The apartments, clubhouse, shopping mall, school, hospital and offices all in the same compound offers a truly excellent living facility. You can find more information about this here.

A peek into the ORION mall here. I was presently surprised to see ZARA and felt as if i was back in Hong Kong. Even the store layouts were similar.

One good thing about this mall is its vast spaces. Or maybe because i visited it during a week day and more than 70% of the stores still need to open shop here, i found it very spacious.

 A view from outside.

 A view of the artificial lake flanked by the apartments and World Trade Centre- the tallest building in the city.

 Trying to get Little Miss to pose. Was not possible without the onlookers.

 The cafeteria is really cool, its has an earthly feel to it.

She found the water inside the glass wall really amazing. Was asking me where the water is disappearing!!

Sitting outside after a good walk on the water-front.

Well it was a day well spent, maybe next time there would be more shops opened. It truly is a great place to live in though..If banker gets a job in this city i know where i want my letters sent to :)

Bangles Galore

A morning well spent by the Little Man trying his hands, legs and entire self on his sister's cycle.

He just cant seem to wait to ride on it..Looks like he is asking me, "Mamma, when will I be able to hop on?"

Meanwhile the afternoon was spent in shopping in the famed Commercial Street. What was once the hub of shopping in Bangalore somehow seemed to have mellowed down into an average shopping destination. With malls coming up everywhere, offering all amenities and the ambiance to beat the scorching sun, it is not a tough choice for people.

But I had to visit this place as it was ages since i had been here and i needed to soak in the atmosphere of the city as i remembered it!

 

All the shopping and cycling leaves me with ----can you guess....yes !!! Less time to do my hooky. Trying to squeeze in some amount tho..will post the progress once there is some--- PROGRESS!!

Till then...i am enjoying the sun and trying to soak in as much as possible. Hope you are doing the same!!!

Things to do...before I leave

I had promised myself that i would keep blogging during my trip to India. But 2 big and 1 small reason are preventing me from doing this regularly.

1. I do no have my Nikon D7000 with me. It needs care and attention and is currently having an identity crisis in Hong Kong. Clicks with my new Canon really cannot match up even remotely to my Nikon.
2.Lack of a full time maid ensures that i do that job and i am running around the little people all the time, giving me very less breathing space.
3.I am on a new hooky en devour and ideally all my non-kids time goes into that.

But, but, but...i am going to make it a point to post at least once a week! Yes i say that to myself...I SHOULD POST ONCE A WEEK.

It has been a rather tiring week as yours truly was down with the bug. I had a bad stomach and could not do much, it is been really boring to get stuck at home when i have such grand plans of taking my eldest little person on various tours of my favorite city, my hometown Bangalore. Hopefully this week will be more of the outdoor types. I have a short list of places i want to take her:

*The Monorail - Namma Metro. She has been asking to go on a train.
*Crossword bookstore.
*Cubbon Park
*Some shopping in Mantri Mall.
*McDonald's for Fries and Shakes.

Things/Places i need to do:
*Visit my school/college friends.
*Do some cotton fabric shopping.
*Shopping some dresses, footwear and other non-essential items for the little people and myself.
*Build my paper stash for scrap booking.
*Eat some junk/road side crap health permitting.

Weather permitting as it is very hot till almost late afternoon I do plan to make trips to these places.
Leaving with a few snaps of the little people getting on my first car. It was the car in which i learnt driving, many a fond memories are associated with this 4 wheeler. It is still in very good running condition and hopefully next year i can drive it. This year with an inquisitive toddler it is difficult to drive around.

 

Had a really good night with my hand being held by my two precious little people. The joys of motherhood and the blessing of being a stay-at-home mommie.

Home Sweet Home

It has been a long long week, one which saw us visit as many as 3 cities.
Summer is officially on in India. We arrived in Bangalore and had to immediately leave to visit a great spiritual and Sanskrit leader, Jagadguru Ramanandacharya in Chitrakoot. The only thing bad about this entire trip is the road to Chitrakoot. It is a 7 hour journey from Lucknow and Lucknow also isn't well connected to other cities in India. But nevertheless we all set off.

The weather was boiling hot and road isn't the favourite mode of transport for my little girl. Exhaustion took its toll and it was only when we reached the cool cottages of Arogya Dhama that we smiled and relaxed! This is a wonderful place, an unexpected heaven situated on the banks of the river Mandakini.

A very spiritual experience it was for me on the personal front. Banker is a devout follower of Guruji and I could not help but fall in line! Guruji is an amazing person, person being too small a word. You can find more information about his noble works and insights here. He is probably the most learned person in Sanskrit and also the most most humblest soul i have ever met. He played with my little boy with such eager enthusiasm as a small child..In hind-sight maybe it was his blessings that gave me my second bundle of joy :)

The only downside of this trip- Our Nikon broke!! I really do miss my camera. Bought a new Canon IXUS but it does not come anywhere close to Nikon. Have to still get it repaired.

Photos of our visit will probably come up in my next post, once Banker reaches HK and sends it across.
Till then we have to bear with this...

The Little Miss at the camera shop in Mantri Mall,Bangalore

Part of my yarn stash, purchased from Lucknow. This is for a new project whose humble beginnings you can see below.

The little ones, enjoying a cycle ride in their Ajji's house :)

One of my favourite site in my mom's house is hot strong filter coffee!!

The tools and the power to make this delicious coffee. Only a true south indian knows n misses this beverage.

That's it for now. More to come and loads of snaps hopefully in my next post.