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.

India Calling...

..we are off for our summer vacation!
Yipeeeeee!!!!!!

Leaving for India tonight. I may have accidentally finished my packing..he he..no no wait, i still need to buy a couple of things. Haan, yes i do need to get some covers and some bags. That's more like me, doing things till the last minute :)

All the clothes, with kids you never know when enough is really enough. ?Thankfully its summer so i don't need more layers. You just dress them in tees and shorts and off then can flutter away.

The goodies are packed in bags, the shopping done and the sorting done :)

Empty closets. I am thinking how it will be when we finally leave HK. Its gonna be like packing so many memories. Both the children have spent their infancy and one is spending her toddler-hood here. It may not be my country of origin but family is where my kids are right now. Hong Kong is not so bad after all :) and the best part being you can afford frequent trips to India.

The only clothes in the cupboards now are the winter wears and full sleeves. So good to see the little people in sleeveless and short sleeves.

  

The below 2 Upsy Daisy T-shirts are my daughter's eternally favorite ones i think. God bless the day i painted them. She has used it so so so much. She used to either wear it or she used to carry it. I could get her to bathe, eat and in general obey me with them. In fact she has even carried it on her flight to India in our previous visit :) Every family member has asked her for it and she says that she will buy a new one from market and give it to them! 

The short sleeve one is "tight Upsy" as the shirt is really tight for her. The other one is "new Upsy". Its new only in comparison with the tight one. One day i need to get these framed!

Well, last few hours before we all set off, i am all super excited! Not sure how much crocheting n crafting i can get done. But want to do a lot of scrap booking as paper is really cheap in India.

Going to try my best to blog and motivate myself.
Before i am off, one more link - a great DIY crochet T-shirt dress idea. Amazing in fact, going to try my hand at it pretty soon.There is one for the mommies as well here.Hope to get this done as its tooo beautiful.

Off i go to catch our flight :)

Things to Do

The blogging world is truly amazing. Its a window to so many things beautiful and interesting. The craft and the variety is mind boggling. Just a simple search on a granny square gives one endless possibilities and i can see so many bloggers/crafters who have done so much that it is easy for me to pick what i want to do!

Here's a list of few things i am planning to get done by the end of this year. Sorta like my crocheting plan for 2012 :)

1.Granny Stripe Blanket. This is mainly going to be an inspiration from dear Lucy. You can find it here.

2.Cushion Covers - There are oh so many wonderful patters out there. There is a sunburst pattern here. The blues are really lovely in this. Then the flower granny square cover. This is an easy pattern only you need to get your colors right or else it may hurt the eye. The back of the cushion is something which you wouldnt want to spend too much time on. Yet it should look lovely. I am always on the look out for easy patterns but which give a great effect. Playing with colors and accessories enhances the look of a finished object a great deal. This method here is a great way of closing up your cushion cover and making good your old sweater.

3.Crochet Bunting - Need to do a butterfly bunting for the little people. They have been asking for it.

4.Granny Square ideas - Have a look at this pdf.  This has amazing granny square patterns, each one unique and wonderful. I am still waiting for my yarn to start this off..

Hopefully i can get to complete my wish list by year end. 

Now the time to leave HK and go for a holiday is nearing. My shopping and packing is still looming in front of me. Even tho i am a stay at home mom, i never seem to have time to complete my shopping. There is something still missing or something which i need to buy!

A look at the girl's new crocs. She loved the little decorations which give off a light when she jumps. Jumped all her way from the store to home:)

This is a doll for a dear friend of mine in Bangalore. I do hope she likes it. These dolls are a must buy if you ever visit Hong Kong.

 

And then the clothes, which need to be packed. This is just the beginning. I still have to go to the kids cupboards :(

So i neeeeed to start thinking about packing. Need to need to.
I am going to do that now. Or maybe just a bit more of crochet browsing and then :)