Dearest Darling Ceyone,
Festive season started from November and due to the pandemic, most of the activities were virtual. You used to attend classes with Ms. Jyoti Jamnerkar for Maths and one of those days you went to lunch with Papa right after your math class. Straits Kitchen at Grand Hyatt was one of your favorite places and you loved their butter chicken.
Lying idly at home on the bed likely after some playtime.
It was Diwali month and we were preparing for the festival. There was a home businesswoman who made Indian dresses. So I decided to order same clothes for Nani and me, in different colors. Nani sent me her picture from India and I stitched them together.
That was Nani and family celebrating Diwali at Guddi Mausi's house in Bhopal. Even Coco is in the photograph.
As I was the treasurer of the Aspen Diwali Community, Deepti clicked this candid shot of me, using it for fund collection wherever suitable.
Deepti and I were responsible for organizing kids bingo and Kahoot and we got tonnes of oreos to send to participating kids. It was good fun to organize these community events, brainstorm on the rules, the prizes, the schedules and then going house to house to distribute their prizes and goodies. We made sure that every kid won at least one thing.
My friend Adnan sent me his pictures with his kids and they were quite cute so I saved them to see later when everyone is all grown up!
When I saw this tweet about kids' vaccine arriving in the US, I was exhilarated. I knew it would soon come to Singapore and with the little ones getting vaccinated, that pandemic could be soon behind us.
My office colleague, Kushagra left Twitter and so we created this fun cushion for him. I liked the idea and so saved the picture.
My office colleague, Kushagra left Twitter and so we created this fun cushion for him. I liked the idea and so saved the picture.
There were many moments to meet friends in November and that was during a pizza lunch at Deepti's I think. The boys would also come to our home and we all would have fun.
One of your goals for 2021 was 5 X hikes. That was one at Labrador Park and you thoroughly enjoyed exploring the place, looking at ancient canons and reading history.
It was spirit week at school and on the first day it was pajama day. I got you Harry Potter pajamas and you happily wore them to school. You and Samar were also big in reading Keeper of the Lost Cities series by Shannon Messinger and there were about 8.5 books that you both were hellbent on devouring.
You'd carry your book to school everyday and read during the bus ride and other open time.
You'd carry your book to school everyday and read during the bus ride and other open time.
Meanwhile, in our backyard, Tita had planed some bitter gourd seeds and there was greenery all over. Those cute (only cute to look at and severely bitter tasting) vegetables added charm to the mundane backyard. The leaves were highly aromatic and if you'd touch a finger on them, your finger would relay the same smell.
It was also a time to cook goodies! For Diwali, we made coconut barfi, and the mathri I made got brick hard. Nonetheless, the taste was good so at the cost of dental bills we still ate those.
There was Diwali bazaar organized for kids and lots of children were selling their goods. It was so much fun to purchase and also sell. There we were purchasing Diyas from Reyansh who lived in our lift lobby on the ground floor along with his mum, Nikita.
Diwali mornings were fun when we'd go around house to house distributing sweets and meeting and greeting friends. As it was the second year of virtual meetings, everyone did their best on Diwali to show care and share love.
Deepti and I got the dress made from the lady and we wore identical suits too.
In the morning, Samar came over and you both enjoyed the aaloo bondas that we made together. Cooking, eating together, trying new items, bulk cooking - all these were lovely memories that we were making together for ourselves. I would constantly realize that how little time I had with you as the little boy. You were already until my ears and soon would be taller than me!
Mumma loved modeling as usual and clicked several pictures of herself.
You and Papa got matching outfits too and yours was teal green kurtas. You liked wearing it and our home looked very festive and lovely.
In the evening, we did Laxmi Pooja and enjoyed the holy and peaceful time.
We hung the strings made by Zeeshan on our altar and with all the diyas our place looked very auspicious.
Those were the sweets and gifts we got from friends in the building.
We sneaked a few camera friendly moments before heading out for our usual Diwali dinner at Deepti's house.
Straight face photos were ofcouse impossible with you and you always monkeyed around. Your favorite past time was pulling my leg and we all had good fun doing that.
Those were some of the elements of our home and you helped create that flower rangoli outside our door. This was a nice part as we wanted to welcome Goddess Laxmi, the goddess of prosperity and wealth to our home.
Nana's shop ads were there on facebook and I'd always capture them. Small businesses needed revival and I'd often wonder and brainstorm about how to do that.
It was our Diwali ritual from past few years to go to Deepti's home for dinner. There you were having fun with Zeeshan and Ahyan after devouring yummy food - biryani, chhole, poorie and laddoos.
Deepti's family were also sent Diwali cake by another family and we all cut it and enjoyed together while singing Happy Birthday Diwali 🎵
Me after Diwali, just having fun posing and making you click my photo.
I had no intention but I ended by buying two bags. The purple one had a key with my name engraved on it. They were on good discount and I felt that I had not gotten bags for myself in a while. So there it was, shopping time!
Samar and you were doing Diwali kids dance from our home and were having tremendous fun at it.
One of the days I also made focaccia bread that I liked to bake. The soft bread, rich in Italian seasoning tasted heavenly when warm.
It was also one of my longer walks. I managed to hit 5K while walking at brisk pace in a little over one hour. I felt that we could have 23 productive hours in a day if we all dedicated 1 hour to workouts every single day.
During your last day of soccer class at school I came to pick you up as usual. You sneaked me into the campus and we looked at the playground at the backside. It'd be usually late and the school would be deserted. The ground and tracks were huge and having a big campus was a huge plus point.
There you were returning from soccer class and your uber expensive predator shoes that were already ready for selling.
Observing Zeeshan work on his rainbow looms when the boys had come over our place. We ordered pizza and gluten free pasta from Roso Vino and you all had good fun doing it.
I sneaked this picture from an old memory and loved your cutie expression in it.
I asked you to read Amar Chitra Katha with breakfast instead of watching screen. You happily agreed most days and read those rich, picture stories. Luckily, we had an entire pile of them from someone and there'd be easily 50+ of them at our home.
While doing stunts at home, you accidentally hit the leg of the metal shelf and landed with hairline fracture. We had to go A&E to get your x-ray done. It took about 2 months to fully heal and that meant break in your soccer classes.
There was the Black Friday sales and I satiated my lipsticks hunger, taking advantage of the exclusive discounts for members. The new salesgirl explained me incorrect offer and I ended up getting one free lipstick as they wanted to honor her word. I thought that was my lucky day!
We also started making home made Shrikhand with hung curd.
That was my dinner smoothies - green and oats.
That was my dinner smoothies - green and oats.
Deepti and I went to watch this virtual concert 'Ye dil abhi bharaa nahin' by Javed Akhtar in memory of Sahir Ludhianvi. It was so so good and I was enchanted by the music that touched hearts and was so emotionally moving. Ofcourse, I felt I shouldn't have worn eye makeup.
That was the naughty girl bunny that you gave a voice and character to. You'd narrate in her voice and she was extremely demanding, annoying, mischievous - your adopted little sister from the jungle.
I managed to capture the lovely lights in Little India area one of the evenings while passing by.
Laid my hands on your old scrap book and before discarding I took some photos of the pages. You were the cute chubby boy of your class.
We also made your family book and stuck a lot of pictures in it.
It was Neha's birthday month and I had volunteered to hold her lunch at our home. We prepared paneer, parathas, dahi ke kebab and shrikhand. Other friends also brought some items from their homes and it was a good party. It was really tough to organize meals with everyone having dietary restrictions. We also got paan.
At the end we cut cake and laughed and made merry.
I with that you are always surrounded by friends Ceyone. You always have company and you meed loads of new people in your beautiful life journey.
Lots of Love,
Mumma
Lots of Love,
Mumma
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