Blowing Raspberries: July 2020

Dearest Doll Ceyone,

That was your nickname in those days. I'd call you my doll lovingly and you did toungui to me. You'd get your tiny tongue out cutely and make innocent face. You understood a lot of things, including the fact that puppy face melts your mother's heart. So you often tried that with me and succeeded.

You were also getting quite good at negotiating. Most of our conversations were plain negotiations. Negotiations on increasing ipad gaming time, decreasing kumon math work sheets, increasing sweets and decreasing physical activity. You were active and creative and I just wanted you to develop rhythms.

We went for dinner after ages to a restaurant. With COVID-19, restaurants were out of business and we did our little bit to support. You ordered pasta and I ordered parata set. Eventually, you dumped your pasta and savored my parata. Then we ordered more parata :) It was so fun to see your taste buds function exactly like your gene pool. You had a natural affinity to the tastes that were favored by me and Papa separately. Some examples were boondi raita dip, paneer, cheese, savory foods and more.

I was also trying my best to teach you bike balancing. You picked it up after 10-15 days of rigorous practice. Next was to make you learn to peddle.
That was my picture from when I was a teenager at my old home in Arera Colony, Bhopal.

It was the season of mangoes and we ordered mangoes from India through a whatsapp group. They'd deliver in bulk to someone's house and we could pick up from there. Even when I was in India, I had never tasted all these varieties of mangoes. It was true that the best stuff gets exported. We made mango milk shake.

Samar was your BFF and you both spent entire days together, sometimes at our place and sometimes at theirs. Playing bey blades together, reading, playing soccer, painting, making paper crafts and constantly chit chatting. Your days were breeze with Samar. I was so grateful for both of your friendship.

It was also your virtual dessert summer camp and you went to Phoon Huat baking shop to buy supplies. That week we made so many desserts that it was crazy to try so much sugar in a week. We also visited an acquaintance to buy some of the books they were selling.

Your art classes were going quite well and here's your version of Starry Night by Vincent Van Gogh.

Your swimming lessons also restarted with coach Derik whom you adored a lot.

Some of the desserts that we made were lemon meringue pie, tiramisu, apple pie, fondant cake, madeleines, chocolate mousse, panna cota with berry compote. They were all delicious and it was largely Tita's class.

After a very long time I went out for lunch to meet some of our new joiners at work. I went to Violet Oon's restaurant for the first time and she was a celebrity chef at Singapore. The food was amazing.

We also got wholewheat pancake batter from Ahaan's mum who was kind to send it for you every time she made a batch. Then I got the recipe from her. Those pancakes were sumptuous and we enjoyed them with leftover berry compote. You also had yours with a generous helping of nutella.

Some of your next paintings were pansy by Georgia O'Keeffe and Benday Dots.

That was a nice photo of Aspen Heights pool where we spent so many days swimming.
That's my bowl of mangoes for snack.

In the middle of life, my laptop screen gave up one fine day. It took 3-4 days to get a new machine delivered to me and I worked on my phone all this while. Working from home had gotten so intense as opposed to being simpler.

I went to get my left foot diagnosed for pain in the sole and had to do an MRI scan. After seeing the doctor I dropped into a nearby mall. It was early morning and the gelato shop had freshly done their gelatos. I stood there for a good 30 seconds admiring those neatly done piles of gelatos. It felt quite therapeutic for some reason.

It was also Noopur mausi's birthday, who was my college bestie and we had a group video chat, full of laughter and non stop chatter. Meanwhile Kiaan also turned one!

You visited Turtle Farm with Papa and spent good time feeding your favorite animals. Samar and you also attended Story Time by my office head and enjoyed it.

Another highlight of our life was receiving a hand written letter from Riyansh from San Jose, who was your pen friend. Riyansh was Rachna Mausi's son and though you guys had never met I thought of initiating a pen friendship would be nice. Afterall Old was gold.

Sometimes, Arjun came to play with you.

Then on a Friday off, Samar, you and me headed off to MTR for lunch. Their set dosas were you guys' absolute favorites.

We also went for picnic at Fort Canning with Samar's family and packed soccer ball, cheesy pasta, Milo nuggets and gummies for snack. You guys had a blast playing. At the end you were super tired and had a mini meltdown after returning home. But it was mostly fun!