We celebrate the completion of first month of a baby in Assam. There is some puja followed by lunch or dinner. When Krishu completed one year, there was no one from our families with us. (I wrote about it in an earlier post. My mother-in-law had to rush back home). We went to a temple in Banasvadi to offer puja on January 25th. Since the next day was a holiday (Republic Day), we decided to host the lunch on January 26th, 2008. We were then living in a rented house at Kasturi Nagar (House#211, 1D Cross). Our landlord Shankar-Ramen was kind enough to allow us to host the party at the terrace of the house. For us that was also an occasion to meet some of our old friends. We were new to Bangalore and haven't met many of them after reaching Bangalore three months back.
I was looking for a decent north-Indian restaurant in Indira Nagar area who also does catering for parties. One of my colleagues Ashok recommended Raga at CMH road. I went to Raga and discussed the menu with Sandhya Pujari, the owner of Raga. The food was good. We had about 50+ guests that day.
Here is the link to the photo album for this function.
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Saturday, May 15, 2010
Ekagra goes biking
Today we bought a bicycle for Ekagra. We bought a tricyle for him when he was 1 year and 4 months old. He didn't enjoy the tricycle much. Nowadays in our apartment complex, all kids of his age ride bicycles. When we go out for a walk in the evening, Ekagra wants to ride on his friends bicycles. Sometime he tends to snatch a bicycle from some other kid of his age. Gitika has been telling me for last couple of weeks that it's time we buy a bicycle for Ekagra.
Today we went to a cycle shop at Marathahalli. It's on the first floor while going towards old airport from Marathahalli bridge. We saw some bicycles there. There were bikes of many brands there. Some of the brands were unknown and possibly made in China. We didn't like the manner of the guys at that shop. So we soon left the shop. We went to a BSA showroom named BSA Go at Koramangala. It's on the left hand side after crossing the Ejipura traffic signal while going from Indira Nagar side.
We found BSA Go store to be good. They had many varieties of cycles of BSA brand. They have an extensive catalog too apart from the models on display. They told us that they can assemble any of the bikes from the catalog in about three hours time. We decided to buy from one of the models on display. We then had a confusion; whether to buy a 14 inch or a 16 inch one. We called a friend whose kid is of the same age as Ekagra and their son has a bicycle. They told us that they bought a 14" one; but later found that their son can now ride on a 16" one also. So we decided to buy the 16".
We selected two different models: one was priced Rs 2500 and the other one Rs 3150. The one at Rs 2500 was ok; but it was a bit girlish. So we decided to buy the other one. It's named BSA Go Biking. It's has two colours in it: black and yellow. It has two years warranty on the frames and fork for any manufacturing defect.
In the evening, we took Krishu out for biking inside our apartment complex. He is not yet able to do full paddle. But he enjoyed the evening.
Today we went to a cycle shop at Marathahalli. It's on the first floor while going towards old airport from Marathahalli bridge. We saw some bicycles there. There were bikes of many brands there. Some of the brands were unknown and possibly made in China. We didn't like the manner of the guys at that shop. So we soon left the shop. We went to a BSA showroom named BSA Go at Koramangala. It's on the left hand side after crossing the Ejipura traffic signal while going from Indira Nagar side.
We found BSA Go store to be good. They had many varieties of cycles of BSA brand. They have an extensive catalog too apart from the models on display. They told us that they can assemble any of the bikes from the catalog in about three hours time. We decided to buy from one of the models on display. We then had a confusion; whether to buy a 14 inch or a 16 inch one. We called a friend whose kid is of the same age as Ekagra and their son has a bicycle. They told us that they bought a 14" one; but later found that their son can now ride on a 16" one also. So we decided to buy the 16".
We selected two different models: one was priced Rs 2500 and the other one Rs 3150. The one at Rs 2500 was ok; but it was a bit girlish. So we decided to buy the other one. It's named BSA Go Biking. It's has two colours in it: black and yellow. It has two years warranty on the frames and fork for any manufacturing defect.
In the evening, we took Krishu out for biking inside our apartment complex. He is not yet able to do full paddle. But he enjoyed the evening.
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Shopping for the expecting baby
There is some superstition in Assam (probably in other parts of India too) that we shouldn't buy anything for the baby before he/she is born! Some of our relatives still believe this and told us not to buy anything for the baby before his birth. So what does these superstitious people do? They get second-hand materials for the new-born baby from friends and relatives. Gitika and I don't believe in this crap.
My parents visited us when Gitika was into the 8th and 9th month into the pregnancy. We told them that we wanted to buy some of the stuffs for the baby that will be needed during our stay in the hospital. They didn't object. Next, we had to find a store. We were new to Bangalore and were yet to be familiar with Toys-n-Toys, Apple-of-My-I etc. We thought we'd go to a mall and find some shops there. Dabu also joined us that day. All of us went to Garuda Mall in Magrath Road. We bought a lot of things from Shoppers Stop for the baby - wrappers, blankets, cap, socks, nappies, etc. Interestingly, I didn't know the word diaper till that day. Instead of diapers, I bought some Johnson & Johnson nappies for the baby. I didn't know the difference between nappies and diapers then. :-)
Gitika washed all of those by hand and kept it ready in a separate bag. Good that we were prepared with all these. In the hospital, we spent some time in a ward before getting shifted into a room. In the ward, we saw several new-born babies whose parents were unprepared (or perhaps superstitious). The hospital provides only one green coloured cloth. I saw the hospital staffs chiding those parents. I had to buy only diapers. (I was still figuring out the difference between diapers and those disposable J & J nappies).
My parents visited us when Gitika was into the 8th and 9th month into the pregnancy. We told them that we wanted to buy some of the stuffs for the baby that will be needed during our stay in the hospital. They didn't object. Next, we had to find a store. We were new to Bangalore and were yet to be familiar with Toys-n-Toys, Apple-of-My-I etc. We thought we'd go to a mall and find some shops there. Dabu also joined us that day. All of us went to Garuda Mall in Magrath Road. We bought a lot of things from Shoppers Stop for the baby - wrappers, blankets, cap, socks, nappies, etc. Interestingly, I didn't know the word diaper till that day. Instead of diapers, I bought some Johnson & Johnson nappies for the baby. I didn't know the difference between nappies and diapers then. :-)
Gitika washed all of those by hand and kept it ready in a separate bag. Good that we were prepared with all these. In the hospital, we spent some time in a ward before getting shifted into a room. In the ward, we saw several new-born babies whose parents were unprepared (or perhaps superstitious). The hospital provides only one green coloured cloth. I saw the hospital staffs chiding those parents. I had to buy only diapers. (I was still figuring out the difference between diapers and those disposable J & J nappies).
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Fisher Price Rocker
One integral part of Ekagra's journey till now is the Fisher Price Rocker that we bought for him when he was about four months old. We went to buy the Fisher Price Bouncer for him from Orkidz at 80 feet road, Indiranagar. But we found that the bouncer was good till only about six months old. He was almost about to complete fourth month then. We didn't like to spend about Rs 3000/- just for a month or so. Then we found this rocker which can be used by a newborn to a toddler. The price was Rs 3600/-; but we found that he could use it for three years. And we did the right choice. He has thoroughly enjoyed it. Usually Ekagra loses attraction of a new thing very quickly, in a few days or weeks. The rocker is something he is still attracted to even after two years. He watches TV sitting there. He sometimes goes to sleep while resting on it. He turns the pages of a book or a newspaper while sitting on it. It was really worth buying the rocker.
Gift from Synopsys
The shirt was a bit big though for a newborn. Ekagra wore it for the first time when he was 1 year 8 month old. The day he wore the shirt for the first time was something special for us. Will write a separate post on that.
Why this blog?
We've been thinking of writing some posts on Ekagra ever since he was born. But then I was procrastinating. First we thought that we'd post these in my primary blog Beberibang. But Beberibang has become too much of a hodge-podge (a khichdi). So we thought we'd set up a dedicated blog on Ekagra. But why?
The amount of joy that a kid brings to the family is just tremendous. But there are lot of challenges too. We want to share the joy as well challenges of raising Ekagra through this blog. We would like to capture important milestones and though-processes (of parents and of the baby) in and around Ekagra. We don't intend to make it just a photo-blog. Of course, there will be pictures too.
The plan is to gift this blog to Ekagra on his 10th or 12th birthday or whenever he understands about internet, blog etc.
We started the blog when he is into his 2nd year and 4th month. So we have a backlog of 28 months to cover first. Some of the topics that we plan to cover next are:
The amount of joy that a kid brings to the family is just tremendous. But there are lot of challenges too. We want to share the joy as well challenges of raising Ekagra through this blog. We would like to capture important milestones and though-processes (of parents and of the baby) in and around Ekagra. We don't intend to make it just a photo-blog. Of course, there will be pictures too.
The plan is to gift this blog to Ekagra on his 10th or 12th birthday or whenever he understands about internet, blog etc.
We started the blog when he is into his 2nd year and 4th month. So we have a backlog of 28 months to cover first. Some of the topics that we plan to cover next are:
- Gift from Synopsys
- Financial planning for kid. Our search for a Child Plan and why we decided not to buy one from the existing products.
- Function to celebrate one month
- Trip to Pondicherry during the 4th month.
- Annaprashan (the ceremony when he starts eating rice)
- First birthday
- His first walk
- Admission into play school
- Second birthday
- Searching for a school for his nursery admission etc.
First month
Oh yeah, first month was really a tough time. Ekagra didn't sleep during the night for almost the whole of the first month. He was probably getting adjusted to the new environment after coming out of the comfort of mother's womb.
Dabu (my cousin) went to Assam for his semester break. Gitika's mom were with us. But we got a bad news: one of Gitika's uncles passed away who were also their neighbour at their native place. So my mother-in-law had to go back home. In third week, we were alone with the new born baby. My parents couldn't come as it was the time for panchayat (local body at the village level) elections and my mother was on elections duty. I couldn't go to office and worked from home during that period.
Finally Junti khuri (my aunt) and my cousin Jaanmoni volunteered to come here from Assam. They stayed with us for about a month. We will forever be grateful to my auntie and Jaanmoni for that help.
Dabu (my cousin) went to Assam for his semester break. Gitika's mom were with us. But we got a bad news: one of Gitika's uncles passed away who were also their neighbour at their native place. So my mother-in-law had to go back home. In third week, we were alone with the new born baby. My parents couldn't come as it was the time for panchayat (local body at the village level) elections and my mother was on elections duty. I couldn't go to office and worked from home during that period.
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