Mauritius - Oct 2016

October 2016
Gurgaon
School is out for 10 days for Pooja Holidays
Panic attack

I was busy coming up with plans to fill entire days with activities for kids. I did not want to hear "Mamma we are bored" " There's nothing to do" " Can we go to XYZ's house? " 'Can we call ABC home?"  "Colouring is so boring" " Puzzles are soooooo boring" " No Lego" " He did it" " No he did it" " I am hungry" " Chikki is so boring"" " TV? Please?" for 10 straight days!

Out of the blue, V calls from work - very unusual, because call while at work means something is going to get delegated to me - grudgingly I answered. He asked " Hey, do you think we can do Mauritius for the coming holidays? "
WHAAAAAA..... really? Of course we can. We SHOULD. DEFINITELY! Have I ever said no for a trip (except of course if its the hills, I have my reservations!)

Needless to say, I was super excited. Oh how I love impromptu trips.

Tickets done.
Hotels booked.
Bags packed.
An early morning flight.

Everything was going well. Or so I thought, until K started a cough the evening before we were to leave, out of the blue. Like, How? More importantly, why the hell? why now? Honestly, I was less worried about him and more worried about how MY trip is going to get dampened with his cough.

Warm water.
Soup.
Steam.
Meds.

Cough getting worse.
Cough through the night.
Early morning flight.
I give up.

At the airport. All of us are excited including the slightly wheezing K. In to the flight, we take off. (whew). So far okay, except for incessant coughing. K slurped down some cough syrup and fell asleep.

Landed. Mauritius. I wake K up.
Kiss on the forehead (not the loving doting mother kind of kiss, more of a peck on the forehead to check if cough has turned in to something else) and as I feared, he was running a temperature. He was still his happy chirpy self, with puffy eyes, leaky nose and a cough.

Customs, formalities all done. Out of the airport. Fresh air.

Mental note and gratitude: Taking care of a sick child in Mauritius is much better than taking care of a sick child in Gurgaon!

Day 1, Day 2, Day 3: We had reservations at a resort in the northern most trip of Mauritius. It was located between Grand Gaube and Grand Baie. The shore overlooked Coin de Mire. The resort was by group of hotels called Attitude.

We went on a boat to see the reef (frankly according to me it was not all that great, it was just a glass bottom boat and not much "reef" just few fishes swimming by).
There were lot of people offering day picnics to Coin De Mire, but we decided against it given that Karthik wasnt keeping well at all (although he seemed to be enjoying the beach and the sand).

Karthik's fever was coming back every four hours and his cough got worse. Day 3 we took him to a doctor. She put him on steroids and just like that he started getting better.

We drove around to Grand Baie and spent time on the beach there.

Day 4 - We shifted to another Attitude Hotel in Balaclava.

We drove to Port Louis, walked around the capital city.

Day 5 - Chamarel Rum Factory. V "tasted" so much rum that had I asked for diamonds he would've bought them for me. Me being me I stuck two amazing linen shirts from the memorabilia shop.

We even managed to catch the sun set at the Flic en Flac beach.

Day 6 - Moved to a hotel called Le Surcouf at Belle Mare beach.

Having a rental car was a boon, because it gave us lots of options to move around the island.  People were extremely friendly and helpful. What struck me the most was some of the landscapes, the sugar cane fields and the temples looked as if they were a replica of some small town in tamil nadu. The locals all looked like Indians... many a times I thought they would just start conversing in tamil, but all that I could hear was creole.

Mauritius would remain one of my most memorable trip, yes, despite the sick child. :)


PS: Post this trip we had two kids with dark bodies and two sets of very fair bums.

GrrrrGaon!

I was like one of those big huge stubborn dogs on leash who would plop their bums on the ground and refuse to move. Have you seen them? Their owners would literally pull them on their asses? That was what I wanted to do when we were moving back to Gurgaon! I hated the thought of having to live here. Anyway, here I was, back to where I never wanted to be. but this time around either because of my very low expectations or because of the place we chose to live, Gurgaon managed to surprise me. I love our apartment and the community and the neighborhood. Nikhil settled well in his school. I love his school too. Kids made new friends, I made new friends. Life wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.

We went on a wonderful vacation with our dear friends to Istanbul and Santorini in June. 

Rest of the year was spent attending weddings, stepping out with my girl friends time to time, keeping kids busy, dealing with infections and such. 

In December I ran my first ever half marathon! Yaaayyy! I can cross a big item from my list of things to do. 

Overall 2015 was a good year for us. Settling down and getting back to the grind. 

Karthik started Play Group this year. He goes to the same school as Nikhil. They seem to be well adjusted and happy there and that makes me even happier. 

So far, so good. I can say that life is still sabai sabai in Gurgaon too. 

How long has it been?

My poor old neglected blog! If blogosphere turned minimalists my unused, dusty blog would've been long gone.

I have no excuses for not having written anything for so long. Sheer laziness!

August 2014, is where I left. Let me try to rewind...

Phuket Diaries (contd..) -

We were living a blissful life in Phuket. Looking back, the one year that we spent in Phuket was an unforgettable one. Those days will be etched in my memory forever.  Karthik had just turned 1. My cousins stayed about ten days with us in July. We visited Krabi and we explored Phuket. Ate a lot of street food, restaurant food and home cooked food. It was one of those trips that involved heavy eating.
August through November I got to experience the monsoons. My mood swings with the weather - if its gloomy outside I am miserable inside. Imagine how monsoons can affect my mood. However, the monsoon season in Phuket was very different. There would be patches of sunshine after a heavy bout of rain. There were not too many days that went without the typical clear blue sky.
In October, we did a quick trip to Bangkok, Nikhil's passport renewal was the major agenda. I absolutely loved Bangkok. We decided to skip Pattaya, well, because we were living in Phuket, (evil laugh).
I was also on a major weight loss regimen. I ringed in my 35th birthday in style (literally). I had lost all pregnancy weight and some more. I had never felt more accomplished in my life!

December through January we had visitors again. One batch was my cousin and his friend on a back packing trip through Thailand. We were so glad to have them camp on our couch for a week or so. Christmas through early 2015 V's parents were with us. We did all touristy things with them. Phi-Phi and James Bond island, visiting the night markets, hitting the naka weekend markets and the like. Now, with two kids and too much adventure comes infections. So I had a good share of cold and flu that I had to deal with. Mid January, saw Karthik hospitalized for couple of days. Poor Nikhil had his birthday celebrations in the hospital.

By end of February it was certain that we were to move back to Gurgaon. I was so not ready to give up my cozy lifestyle and move back to of all places - Gurgaon! (shudders). We were busy in February settling on school for Nikhil and finding a place to rent.

We moved back to Gurgaon in March 2015! And just like that Phuket became a wonderful memory.

Phuket Diary - Sabai Sabai

Seven long years ago, we vacationed in Barbados; that was by far one of the BEST vacations of my life. The time we spent with our friends, all the laughter, so many fond memories... I dont know if it was the Island air or the "no problem" attitude of people or all the rum punch I had  .. but I just fell in love with the place. I wondered then how it would be to live in a place that people vacationed.. now seven years later here I am.. in Phuket! (I strongly believe that God was sick of hearing my complaints about Gurgaon that he sent us here to shut me up)

Come to think of it, given the cribber (if that is a word) I am, I should be complaining about the little or lack of help I have here, I should be ranting about Vs work hours, I should be frustrated that I dont know the language and how difficult it is to communicate and get your point across... I mean I could just find something in a second to piss me off... ( I sound so nasty)... but, BUT... what can I say, I love it here! The place, people, food... Its a very relaxing feeling.

No wonder Thailand is called Land of Smiles, people are always smiling... and it kind of rubs off on you I guess.. Always, like always they have a smile (at least most of them, exceptions always exist anywhere and I can live with that). So it doesnt bother me much that I am always using sign language and my sentences sound very practical... "You no come tomorrow" "I no want" "this... what?"... (all the while signing with my hands)

The help I have here is a nanny, shes with us for four hours on weekdays. Those four hours that I deposit K(arthik) in her hands is a huge help for me. I don't mind sweeping, mopping, making bed, cooking, cleaning loos... In fact I like the fact that the chores are done in my order, to my liking.. (yeah yeah call me a control freak)... if something is not done around the house, its because I chose not to (or I didn't get to it)...

Lastly, I know that if I have a bad day all I need is a drive to the pier... or one of the many small non touristy and lonely beaches, where its just you and water and the view, to lift your mood instantly... (affordable wine also is a big help... just saying)

So, its been very "sabai sabai" like the Thais say (All good, chilled out, awesome state of mind)