August 2021

 Dearest Darling Doll Ceyone,

That's what I used to call you because I found you to be so cute, soft and chubby. You were truly a darling and a tough one too (coz of all the chicken soup fed to your bones). The main theme of our household those days was soccer. You were living and breathing soccer with practice three times a week. 

Your classes at Real Madrid continued every weekend on both Saturdays and Sundays. 

 

You also enjoyed having some 1:1 classes with the head coach.
 

 

 

 

Meanwhile, at home, my handwriting classes continued on Sunday mornings. Sometimes, a few new kids would come and it was exciting to teach the little ones how to write well. 

 

We were not able to travel to India for almost two years then due to Covid-19. I used to get regular updates from Nana Nani and it was very nice to stay in touch with family. 
On the festival of Rakhi, Royal Mamu went to Rakhee mausi's place and Anshula mausi's place to celebrate Rakhi. 

 

Our new apartment deal at Shivaji Nagar was complete as well and Nana Nani did a small pooja there, followed by family lunch at Manohar Dairy (which was my childhood favorite restaurant for Chhole Bhature). That's the kitchen of our new place. 

 

That's Rakhi celebration at Nani's house with Girish Mama and Guddi Mausi.

That's you enjoying reading in bed before sleeping and your dinner. 

 

I also caught hold of some photos from your JumpStart program as SAS, that you attended for a week, prior to the starting of the school. 

An expat lady was selling some of her son's old soccer stuff including books and trinkets and I was able to get those for you. There was a tiny, worn out, world cup trinket that you happily hung on your school bag. 
Also, in one of the school videos you featured for a glimpse and had your moment of glory. I had not seen it and another mum sent it to me :) 

 

That's when we went to your new school, SAS, to meet your teacher, Ms. Selvie. She was extremely kind and you adored and respected her a lot. 

Meanwhile, I also got my second vaccination. I hoped and prayed that there will be peace and normalcy in the world. 

 

After almost a year of entering into this entire school shift process, your first day arrived! The bus pickup was at 6:45 AM and it was before sun rise. You were an absolute rockstar, getting ready for school and embracing it with open arms and mind. We were very fortunate to have Samar along in your new school journey and as your classmate (plus deskmate) that brought a lot of joy to all of us! 

I won't lie, I was very nervous for your smooth settlement into this new, big school. And just like that, in the blink of an eye, the first day ended and I came to pick you up at the bus stop. It was such a big moment to have your first day of school end smoothly. 

We learned that the new school with long hours from 6:45 AM to 4 PM required more and filling lunch to be packed for you and Tita quickly edited her style. 

Some for moments from the weekly writing classes and the fun playtime that followed afterwards. 

 

I was attending dance classes in the building and often recorded my own dances afterwards. These are a few pictures from my shooting day. Most of my dances were uploaded on Youtube and it was good fun for me to watch them later or share with family and friends. 

 

We always made time for cuddle time together :) 

It was the birthday month for two of my BFFs, Dolly mausi and Swati mausi and as a tradition we did video chat calls on birthdays. Here's a picture of the cake we made and cut virtually on the video call. That was the new reality with almost everything happening virtually. 

 

It was also my friend, Shweta's birthday and us four friends went to surprise her. I loved her haircut and the celebration was simple and sweet. 

Meanwhile, there was also some tough news. One of my first few bosses at Twitter, Mike Nierenberg, who was a very kind and intelligent person, almost the same age as me, passed away from cancer. It was very sad and heartbreaking to hear this news and Dennis and I were in mourning. Mike spent two years in Singapore before returning to San Francisco and I had loads of memories of the good time we had together in Singapore. When I returned to work as a new mother, after almost two years of break and feeling quite derailed, Mike was instrumental in helping me have my sanity back. Because of Mike, I felt acknowledged and seen and able to face adult life evaluations. I'm ever grateful to Mike for the strength and courage he indirectly instilled in me. May he rest in power. 

 

 

Kiddies coming to our place for writing classes did work first and then it was playtime. Whether it was playing your piano, climbing on your bunkbed or exploring your massive collection of toys - it was very lively and positive energy in our home. 

                      

 

One fine Saturday, you and I went to Black Tap Cafe to taste their ginormous shakes. When we ordered one each, the server warned us that it would be a lot and we were like meh...You took the Oreo one and I took the strawberry, simple because it was the fanciest and biggest. You drank half of yours and I just tasted mine. They were loaded with sugar and cream and we certainly could not finish those. I wondered if anyone could and what would happen to them afterwards. 

Later that month, to celebrate Shweta's birthday, we went to this Japanese restaurant Joie (joy) to try their multi course meal. It was at Orchard Central and we decided to walk over there. 

 

It was a fun ladies day out and me carrying my selfie stick came in handy. 

 

 

 

That was their charcoal tempura (yes, that's right!) and I ate that. It was nice to taste honestly. We giggled a lot and made fun of the little things around to have some light hearted, fun chit chat. 

You were invited to Zeeshan and Ahyan's numerous parties as they turned 10 (double digits) and you had a lot of fun together. You all watched the movie Cruella and enjoyed Deepti's world famous home made burgers. It was very kind of her to invite you to about 3 different parties!  

 

 

 

  

That's your BFF, Samar's family. Samar was an extremely talented kid and made tie-dye t-shirts for his entire family. Later he made one for you as well and you both wore yours to school on free dress day. 

You both hanged out at each others home. Sometimes, you visited their place, making tie-dye with Samar or playing Jenga. 

 

Often, during free school evenings, Samar would come over to our place to do homework and dinner together. He would bring his own dinner and you both spent good, quality time. It was so beautiful to see the two of you grow up together, in each others company. It was because of Samar's family that we moved to Aspen Heights and then later at SAS as well. Thank you God, for all of it! 

 

One time when I brought you to soccer class at Rainforest and was waiting outside, I saw this strange animal. It was a grey cockerel, something like a cross between a cockerel and a Pomeranian, so I captured on my phone.  

We discovered this new thing called 'Naan bombs' from Kailash Parbat and were enjoying those on home delivery. 
Our other favorite was Samosa from Raffles and Papa had ordered those on India's Independence Day for us to savor. 

 

Along with you, I was also developing some understanding about soccer as a sport (staring from being barely able to play tag) and liked Sergio Ramos. So, we printed this photo of Ramos and stuck it to your vision board. 

Deepti came home to try a few dresses of mine so she could shop for herself. Playing dress up was super fun even in our forties. It was very exciting for me to see her try new type of outfits than what she was used to wearing and I made her try several :) 

 

I was also not behind in playing dress up myself and tried a few for myself. 

 

Such was August 2021 for us and that was our active household buzzing with people and activity all month long! 

May you always have company and may your always experience the joy of beautiful friendships, Ceyone. 

Love to you forever, 
Mumma