White Christmas

This vacation we decided to drive down to Puducherry (Pondicherry) on Christmas Eve, which was a rather impulsive decision. Best thing being that it came from hubby dear who hates driving. So we quickly packed a few clothes, lots of snacks, and some good music and off we were to Pondi. Since we started very early in the morning, we beat the Bangalore traffic effectively and post Hosur to Krishnagiri, it was an awesome drive. I was all envious of hubby who was enjoying it all and refusing to pass on the wheel. We stopped in between for some nice dosas for breakfast at Adyar Anand Bhavan. The fun kind of ended there because as soon as you go beyond Krishnagiri, the potholes seem to get bigger and deeper – wonder about govts. not investing in basic infrastructure. Anyway, after hours and hours of driving we finally reached outskirts of Pondi – while we were looking at some scenic beauty, it was all very dusty and crowded. It was only when we finally entered Pondi that we were welcomed by this nice little Union Territory – the only UT I have been to so far after Delhi was declared a state. Day 1 was spent with the visit to the famous rocky beach and Aurobindo Ashram while Day 2 was spent at the lovely Auroville. The road leading up to the visitor center in Auroville is charming, unwinding and a little mysterious. For shoppers, they have some lovely boutiques. I spent just about 45 mins at that boutique but that was enough for my hubby – he complained as to how I didn’t care for the hungry kid and him and selfishly went shopping…these men I tell you.

After our short and sweet sight seeing at Pondi, we drove down again – this time from Pondi to Mammalapuram (Mahabalipuram). What a road (ECR) along side the beach!! It was by far one the best roads we have driven on (think next to the Delhi-Jaipur one). It was afternoon of Day 2 we reached Mahabs, we spent sometime on the seashore temple of the Pandavas well preserved by the Archaelogical Survey of India and then straight onto the beach. By this time, S was all bored with traveling and was whining for everything – who said holidaying with kids was easy. So we quickly headed back to Pondi and made him chill at the hotel for sometime, which by the way is his favorite place while holidaying.

One of things that we thoroughly enjoyed (was obviously the all white French colony and everything “Le” and “La”) were the restaurants some of which had this European/French feel. Rendezvous on Rue Suffren was one of them – nice open terrace facing a typical French house. I bought a nice cuban cigar for hubby from here.

The other one is the beach-facing, roof-top restaurant of The Promenade – hotel by HiDesign. Lovely ambience…and guess what we had Santa Claus walk in with a red satin goody bag for S - what more could we ask for on a Christmas Eve. We packed the traditional plum cake from a wonderful bakery in the city –Baker’s Street which we just chanced upon while we were driving – for us and friends and drove back all pleased spending Christmas in the all-white city!!

Which school?

Here's an interesting article posted yesterday in - The Juggle, on WSJ.com, a blog that I follow - on which school will Michelle Obama pick for her kids in Washington.

School Choice: Where Should the Obama Kids Go? http://blogs.wsj.com/juggle/

The topic although is US-centric throws light on few very basic yet pertinent parenting choices - how much does the choice of school for your kids depend on your housing, your lifestyle, your status, your background, your education, your expectations, and somewhere, your dreams (?).

Your comments...

Flying Coach!

While rushing into a meeting, it occured to me that I should write something about my current short business trip to US - and yes I had to fly coach :(

For starters, it was rather a last minute decision (not mine!) to fly down only for a week. The idea of being away from the family and flying soooo far to the US of A, was giving me a tug of anguish.

The family was well prepared for it but preparing S for one week on 'no Mommy'was hard. From experience, I can say that it is always better to prepare kids for the future- which could even be a week of lots of time with granparents and father. S is quite a reasonable kid, I must say, provided you give him the right reasons!

Until I was about to catch a taxi for the airport, he asked me multiple follow-up questions:

- "Why do you have to go?"
- "Who is your boss - is that a he or a she?"
- "Can i speak to he/she? I will scold them for this."
- I was trying to show him the positive side (read bribe) of toys from US, he goes "Why? I don't need more toys? My room is full of them"...:(

Ending it with the most dreaded statement - "Mama, don't go!". That very moment, you would want to give it all up, put in your papers, tell your bosses - family is priority, and just be with your baby. Finally, I did manage to explain to him which perhaps would mean little to him. Phew. These goodbyes are emotionally draining.

Here I am in NY now, leading a forced bachelor life, which too is not bad, except that I am not used to it. This is my second time to US and the first thing that strikes are the beautiful country roads lined with trees in fall colours - quite picturesque. The other thing that strikes you is technology, overdone sometimes! And, the third which is different from last time I was here is the Presidential election and signs of recession everywhere. Whichever form of media you pick, its either Obama or the banks. Overall, this has been a nice experience to take back.

Travel for working mothers is somewhat inevitable. The best thing (which may not be wise sometimes) to do is to accept only the critical ones and then limit the duration. There are some professions, such as consulting, where one has to be at the client site for 4 days a week and be back for the weekend - great profession when you are single, difficult with kid, impossible with kid(s)! As you go along, the choice between the travel-linked assignments, which add tremendous weight to your CV and your priorities, is a tough call. You got to be lucky if your management would understand that - infact, they should. After all, they have to believe in diversity!! :)