Day 306 : Celebrating 15 Years of Love, 10 Years of Marriage!

Five years ago, when the husband and I celebrated our 10th year of being together (as of Jan 17th) and 5th wedding anniversary (as of Feb 12th), our friends celebrated it with us on a yacht party. So now that 5 years have passed and the numbers have gone up to 15 years of togetherness and 10th wedding anniversary, we decided to repeat the yacht party.

So with much excitement, all of us (including Madam, my mom as well as our helper) boarded the Le Tara and had the most amazing time, even in spite of the rain that refused to let go for the first couple of hours. Several photos were taken, much food was eaten and drinks were drunk, many jokes were cracked, many songs were sung and many dances were danced.

I especially enjoyed sitting out there on the deck, with Madam on my lap dancing away! She had initially refused to get out of the lounge on to the deck because the movement scared her, but I managed to convince her and once she was out on the deck, I could see her taking it all in with much delight! The dark sky, the magnificent view of the Singapore skyline on one side and far off islands' lights on the other, with the wind in her face and waves spalshing below, with the fireworks over Sentosa and the strong, cold breeze, she seemed to be on top of the world, just like I was. And that seemed so perfect.

Post the yachting, we got to blow a candle on a cake baked by one of the friends and were gifted a polaroid camera to capture many more memories for many more years.

I don't think I can do justice to the awesomeness of it all in words, but enough to say that after the yacht party wrapped up, we dropped mom, helper and Madam at home and then again went back to a friend's place for an after party, because we wanted all the fun to last longer. Which was basically spent by asking and answering questions about everyone's relationships with their respective spouses, which easily contributed to many more laughs.

There were hugs, smiles and happiness all around and I felt so great - for this husband, for this bunch of friends, for this privilege of being able to celebrate on a yacht, for pretty much everything.

My man of 15 years!

I LOVE this bunch! :)

Cake cutting!

After-party!

194 more to go.  

Days 296 - 301 : Of Film Festivals, Visas, Running and That Beautiful Trip to the Zoo!

So am clearly lagging behind in blogging these days. Oh well!

Anyway another 6 days have passed and they have been great! And am gonna give 6 reasons why.

1) Mom has come down for a visit after a really long time, bringing with her some of my favourite food items. Koorka, guruvayur pappadom, chakka varattiyathu and what not!

2) I got the Bangladesh and Brussels visas! As an Indian, that is always an exciting thing. My Bangladesh visa process was interesting. They sent me emails saying that the visa has been rejected. Not once, twice! I called them up to understand why and they are like "Sorry, our system does that by default." How sweet. Anyway both are ready and that means I am all set for the next two festivals!

3) We got into 3 more festivals - Panchajanyam International Film Festival in Palakkad Kerala, Golden Triangle Bhubaneshwar International Film Festival in Orissa and Darbhanga International Film Festival in Bihar! That makes it a total of 25 film festivals! Who would have thought?!

4) I completed writing one new episode for our sitcom Athazham. There are plans to bring it back, and that's exciting!

5) As per my Runkeeper app, I made my best time in running in both the 3km and 5km marks! How awesome!

6) Last but definitely the most important one of the lot, the husband was on a work trip, so Madam and I went on a trip to the zoo, together with our helper. And it was such great fun! Madam walked pretty much everywhere in that humungous zoo, studying her map intently throughout and of course, talking non stop. It was such a great outing and I was so thankful that we could put everything else that happened behind us and behave like regular families that go to the zoo!

There you go... it is all good. Six wonderful reasons, six wonderful days.

199 more to go.

Day 295 : It is Over!

I am actually skipping a few days completely on the blog, something which I haven't done before. For a good reason too. Because those few days were about nothing but waiting for the treatment to get done with. It was the last lap... the last 5 days.. and I couldn't wait for it to be over with!

And the day is finally here! No more "Superpower" (IV bandage), no more "milk" (anesthetic drug), no more clinic, no more itchy arms (from the IV bandage) and no more hair loss!

I bought some sweets for the amazing staff at the radiation oncology centre at Mt. Elizabeth Novena to celebrate the end of what seemed like a never-ending torture series. OK, I must really put in a word here for the staff at the clinic - when I say amazing, I really mean A.M.A.Z.I.N.G!! They treated Madam like a little princess showering her with a lot of love, care, fun and gifts! Especially a nurse called Janet would prepare a goodie bag for her every single day, just so that she is inspired to go back there. They would cater to her every whim and fancy, even when she is in her immediate post treatment bad mood and I was deeply touched by their gestures and forever grateful for them. God bless all of them!

Back at home, some of our best friends dropped by, bringing her cup cakes and home baked chocolate sponge cakes and it was so sweet of them! It was not a gathering I had organized but they simply messaged me separately and said they were coming because they wanted to see her. I was ridiculously happy and Madam had a great time with them as well!

Next step on the treatment is a scarn in 3 - 4 month's time when hopefully, there is no longer any enhancement.

But for now, today's a great day! Best day in a long time really. So much so that I actually started planning a yacht party for my upcoming 10th wedding anniversary and even a holiday with the friends in June.

A day to smile! :)

It feels SO good to back!

205 more to go.

Day 287 : Eka Uvacha!

It's been a while since I had reproduced Madam's golden words of wisdom here, but this one couldn't be ignored!

During a relaxed mom-daughter time...

Me: Why do you not play with me when your Papa is around? When he is around, you only play with him.
Madam: Because I can't be good to two people at the same time. It's like.. TWO people. How can I take care of two people at the same time?
Me: Uhm... why not?
Madam: Just imagine, what if you have two children? Can you take care of both of them at the same time? This child wants something, then that child wants something. How can you manage both? It is very difficult.
Me: Well..but Papa and I are not your children...
Madam: OK, what if you have two bosses? How can you take care of both of them at the same time? This boss wants something, then that boss wants something. It will be so confusing!
Me: Yes, I get it. Thanks.

Also, in another situation...

Madam : Mummy! You need to take care of me! I am your child! And you are my family! And my family is supposed to take care of me!!

All this simply because I was a bit late in helping her wear her shoes!

213 more to go. 

Days 274 - 285 : The Beauty of Routine.

I had not updated the blog in a while... mainly because I didn't feel like it.

Life had fallen to some sort of a pattern. We would go every morning, 5 days a week, to the radiation centre, get Madam sedated and get the treatment done. Then we would come home and relax. Over the weekend when the IV is off, we would go out somewhere for a good meal or somewhere for her to play and that's about it. Work in office was lean thanks to the holiday season, so it was all very laid back.

A couple of glitches along the way were when Madam caught a flu and fever and the rash breakouts on her hand every time the IV is taken out. Five continuous days of the bound arms in the hot, humid weather wasn't pleasant and she got heat rashes. But I would say, amongst everything else, these were minor glitches. Good news is that we have only 7 more of these treatment sessions to go for and the treatment would be completed on January 10th. So am very much looking forward to that.

On the bright side, my film continues to do well. I have been told that I have won Best Director at the Jodhpur International Film Festival which is to happen in February. It would be my first Best Director award, so that is great! The film has also won the Best Cinematography award at the same festival, making it 6 awards in total for us.

Even better, it has been confirmed that we are officially selected for Thrissur International Film Festival - which means I finally get to screen the film in my hometown! Not just that, my technical crew and I have been invited to give a workshop on low budget film making to the delegates of the festival! How freaking cool is that!! Am terribly excited about this one!

Also, the film was screened at the Kalyan International Film Festival where it had received a nomination for Best Regional Film Award. I couldn't attend the festival myself, but I heard via my co-producer who was there, that the audience thoroughly enjoyed the film. Apparently here was much discussion on the nuances in the concept and script and I was thrilled to know about all that! I was also thrilled that my best friend since school also made her way to watch the film - she is a home maker, so she actually got her husband to take half day leave to pick up their son from school and then made her way to the festival. How sweet is that!

In other news, I also managed to revamp my website www.shilpakrishnanshukla.com. This website was originally created by the husband as a 30th birthday gift for me and was full of love and praises for me (*blush*). However, that wouldn't do for an "official page", so all the love and praise have been stripped but the domain has been maintained to feature all my film and other works. Am happy about finally getting that job done!

So there many things to rejoice. But for me, the biggest one is that life has fallen into a routine with no surprises. And I can't begin to tell you how really awesome that feels.

215 more to go.  

Days 255 - 258 : The Window Seat (& The Female Film Festival of Kerala)

I mentioned in the previous post that it had been an emotional pendulum touching some real highs and real lows over the last few days. That was most true for the four days post discharge from the hospital. 

Let's start with the lows. 

It was really tough to get Madam to take the oral sedation. She is usually quite good with medicines, we never needed too much convincing but this particular one makes her gag and she resists it a lot. After somehow giving the oral sedation, she takes anywhere between 15 minutes to 1.5 hours to fall into deep sleep. Sometimes even though she looks like she is in deep sleep, she just wakes up as soon as the mask is put on and then we need another round of making her fall asleep. Post the treatment, she takes anywhere between 2 - 4 hours to wake up. And then she is super groggy and fatigued through the evening and night. The brave girl that she is, she would try her best to be chirpy and upbeat every morning but you can see the sedation and treatment taking its toll. And then to add on, the fact that tumor has grown and being told by the radiation oncologist that even if this gets treated 100%, there is still 30% chance of recurrence in the future - all of that pretty much sucked. 

So well, those were the lows. 

Then comes the extreme highs. 

I had the privilege of attending the Female Film Festival of Kerala in Thiruvananthapuram. Because the organizers were kind enough to schedule my film's screening at a time I can travel, I could actually attend it in person. They scheduled it for the morning of 4th December, Sunday, so I could make a weekend trip that doesn't coincide with any of Madam's treatment sessions. 

So yes, on the night of 2nd December, I took a flight out. The trip already started on a high, when I was upgraded to business class! My parents picked me up from the airport in Thiruvananthapuram and we checked in our hotel. Next morning, we paid a visit to a couple of temples and then went over to the festival screening venue. After getting introduced to some of the organizing members there and catching a couple of films, we made our way to the hotel for a quick rest. In the evening, we set off again to the festival venue. The plan was to watch the first few minutes of the panel session on "Women's films : Changing perspectives" and then make our way to another temple. 

And then the most interesting thing happened. Once we reached there, I was invited to not only be part of the panel but in fact INAUGURATE it! I was astounded and completely nervous because everyone else had come prepared with pages of notes and there I was with nothing but some prayers to the universe to make this as painless as possible. 

But they insisted that all I had to do was to talk about my experience as a female film maker and nothing more. That was easy and that's exactly what I did. The good news is that the people seemed to enjoy it and many folks came up to me later and said that this has made them curious to come watch my film's screening the next day. Free publicity, right there! I was thrilled! I also really enjoyed the rest of the panel discussion. It was fascinating to hear such varied points of view on cinema - what is male chauvinistic, what is not... why we don't see more female oriented films at festivals or even if we do, they are mostly dealing with assaults and violence... and many such fascinating topics. In a nutshell, it was an experience I am going to keep close to my heart for a long time to come. 

The evening was spent in the company of my cousin and family who live in Thiruvananthapuram (I love their little boy to bits! Due to his current obsession of Pulimurugan, I ended up calling him Puliraman throughout) as well as my co-producer who reached from Mumbai late in the evening. 

Then the D-day arrived. Once again we were back at the venue in the morning. After catching a film by renowned Malayalam film maker Padmarajan, it was time for my screening! We had a decently big audience - some of them were family and friends who had come to support (a huge thanks to those lovely people) and the rest were the organizers, media, critics and general public. We were given a brief introduction and I spoke a few words as well and then began the screening. 

Finally, I got watch a live screening of our film! It was a beautiful experience especially as I could see the audience engage and react so positively throughout - they were smiling, clapping, and there were no walkouts or phone disturbances. It was incredible! 

Then came the highlight! The Q&A and feedback session. My co-producer and I took the stage to accept questions. There were really no questions but the session ended up being critical analysis of various aspects of the movie. Overhwlemingly positive and some opportunity for improvement and I was so amused to see how taken people were with the film! Some of them seriously seemed to have given it more thought than I had till date and it was truly a blessing to be there and accept all that feedback. 

Post the screening I was interviewed for a couple of newspapers as well as a TV channel and then many members of the audience flocked around me to tell me how much they loved the film. Women, especially those who had come together with their husbands, were the most thrilled. They kept saying "I was nudging my husband throughout because this is so close to our life!". One of my uncle's friends came over with his wife and gifted me a beautiful painting, a wooden trinket box and a elephant curio. How sweet was that! Few folks from the industry asked to work together in the future. And pretty much everyone said "Please take film making more seriously and make more movies." To me, that was enough. It made the whole journey pretty much worth it. 

Those were the highs. The festival. The screening. The feedback. The people. I loved every single bit of it. 

On the way back from Thiruvananthapuram to Singapore, I squeezed into the window seat for my overnight flight. I usually do not take the window seat in spite of the promise of a good view, because I really do not fancy having to jump over two strangers to attend a bio call! Also, after so much frequent travelling, you sort of lose that fascination for the window seat. 

So there I was, squeezed in my window seat, resting my head on my pillow and pondering over everything that happened. The highs and the lows. And it broke my heart to think that come tomorrow, I would be back with my little girl at the radiation oncology centre. It would be all that sedation, tears and fatigue... for another 26 sessions. To prevent an emotional meltdown right in the plane, I tried to block off all those thoughts and somewhere along the way slept off. 

When I woke up, they had dimmed off all the cabin lights. I gazed out of the window and there it was - a galaxy of stars in a moonless, cloudless sky. Millions and millions of them! It took my breath away.  I looked at that magnificent sight and it dawned upon me that, this is what it is. I gave up the convenient aisle seat for the squeeze of the window seat and got rewarded with this sight. So maybe just like all those endless hours spent on making the film ending up in this magical journey today, the lows that are about to hit may just also have some highs in the future. That is it. It is as simple as that. 

So I am ready, for the window seat. 

Days 252 - 254 : Silver Linings at the Hospital!

Well, well... where do I start? Today is December 8th, and I actually don't have any idea how to write this post, because it has been a true roller coaster ride. It's been a tough, unforgettable and yet, fulfilling few days. My emotional pendulum has swung between extreme highs and extreme lows and I have wondered several times what exactly is this universe trying to tell me. Anyway, am going to break the last few days down into a few posts, just to avoid one long epic. So here goes.

Madam got admitted on November 28th for her CT and MRI scans. The prep and procedures went off pretty smoothly - she was very cooperative, there were hardly any tears during IV insertion and she recovered pretty quickly from sedation too.  Then came the news - the tumor has enlarged a little and her treatment now requires 30 sessions, vs. the originally planned 25 sessions. Bummer.

But there's always a silver lining and the silver lining here was that, we didn't wait until March or June next year to start the radiation as was previously planned. Even though her scans in early November showed that tumor hasnt grown, her neurosurgeon had recommended to go for radiation immediately vs. waiting because "this tumor is the sort that can just grow quickly, even though the latest scan doesn't show any growth." Well, God bless him. He was right. The tumor grew but it should come under control now that we are already beginning the radiation. See? Silver lining.

We were at the hospital until the 30th. In between she was subjected to two rounds of radiation treatment, both preceded by a round each of IV sedation, one round of oral sedation that didnt work, and many hours of boredom in the hospital ward which she combated with lots of singing, dancing, chatting and playing hide and seek in the garden. She is such a hero!

While we are at it, I should also mention the other silver lining - the Mt. Elizabeth hospital at Novena where she was admitted, which was nothing short of a 5-star hotel! It had the best view, a coffee machine, and even a Japanese commode in the washroom complete with the all fancy water outlets, dyers, and even a warm toilet seat! Previously she used to be at the Mt. Elizabeth hospital at Orchard, because that's where her neurosurgeon Dr. Pillay is, but was shifted to Novena for radiation because that's where the latest equipment for the treatment is available. So well, I have to say we are blessed in many ways like this.

And just when we were getting discharged, a huge group came over to sing Christmas carols and distribute gifts to the kids. So we ended our stay with music, smiles, a lot of cheer and 2 out of the 30 sessions behind us. Many, many silver linings!

Enjoying the view from the hospital room with her Panda!

All smiles in the garden, after her MRI.

Santa Claus & Songs!

246 more to go.

Day 239 : Madam's Friendships!

True Story:

Yesterday: 
Me: "So how's your best friend?"
Madam: "I don't have any best friends"?
"Uhm... you were best friends with her until yday".
"Yes, but today we are not best friends. We are not even friends."
"Why?"
"Because she said she is not my friend anymore"
"Why?"
"Because I laughed at her."
"Why did you laugh at her?"
"Because she was supposed to write '12'. But she wrote '1S'".
"So did you say sorry?"
"No."
"Why?"
"Why should I?"
"Because you laughed at her!"
"She should say sorry first. She was the one who wrote '1S'."

I gave up at that point.
.
.
.
.


Today: 
"So, how's ex-best friend? Are you friends yet?"
"Yes, we are friends. We are best friends."
"Oh wow... great! So who said sorry first?"
"Nobody said sorry. That's why we are best friends."

OK then.

261 more to go. 

Day 238 : Yet Another Birthday!

It was Madam's birthday as per the Malayalam calendar. That meant little bit of payasam courtesy of our helper and a visit to the beautiful Toa Payoh temple, a ritual we haven't missed the last four years.

While I was pretty pleased about the sweet and quiet birthday, Madam obviously had other ideas. "Is this it? Where is everyone? Where is my cake?"

I gently reminded her about the two birthday parties that she has already had for the year and I can tell you that didn't go down very well.

Happy birthday, dear one!

262 more to go. 

Day 237 : Mom & Daughter Day!

The husband is out for yet another business trip, so it was up to Madam and I to entertain ourselves for the Sunday. And we really maxed it out!

First we went for the Art Exhibition "Varnam" organized by the Singapore Malayalee Association. Madam had a great time looking at the paintings, commenting on them, picking her favourites (usually once with some amount of pink in them..sigh), and even weaving stories around some of them - apparently one with a few palm trees depicted the island where her brother (imaginary, of course) stayed when he was a baby. Her interest in the exhibition quickly waned when I started mingling with the organizer and artists (some of them recognized me as that "famous film maker"... haha), so we then made our way back home.

After lunch and a quick nap, we went to watch the animation movie Trolls - complete with hot dogs and popcorn, but of course. Madam thoroughly enjoyed the movie and sat still throughout, literally gaping at the screen.

Post the movie, it was time for her favourite nuggets and ice cream and then we quickly made our way back home to avoid the downpour from the super dark clouds that were on their way.

At night, she couldn't sleep for a while, so she kept twisting and turning to find the most comfortable positioning, which ended up in her snuggling close to me over and again. It was so perfect!

There is really a lot to be thankful for. And I loved my exclusive day with her!

263 more to go. 

Day 232 : Annual Day!

It was Madam's Annual Day celebration at school.

Earlier, when I showed (according to her, undue) excitement at the idea of her dancing for it, she told me, "It is a boring dance". So clearly I wasn't supposed to be this excited. So I tried telling her that a boring dance it may be but still she would be going on stage and that counts for something. So she replied, "It's a boring dance on a boring stage."

Oh well.

Anyway once at school, she seemed to be more interested in the activities and happily got dressed, complete with make up. She also played along and did her part well enough in the "boring dance on the boring stage" and I was super proud of my little one.

The husband and I enjoyed the performance, applauded real loud for Madam, stuffed ourselves with the vada pav from the canteen (perks of sending your kid to an Indian school) and generally had a merry time.

Here's a rather unclear photo of her's at the performance... she is the little one on the left side.

268 more to go. 

Day 225 : The Results

We met Madam's neurosurgeon today morning to talk the scan results.

Good news was that the tumor had not grown or spread. What wasn't so great was that the tumor is still very much around, deeply embedded in her brain. Of course, this was very much expected but you still can't feeling disappointed every time you hear it.

The doctor recommended to go for microradiosurgery (non invasive radiation treatment) within the next 6 months and earlier the better, because she is now old enough to get it done. It would be about 3 - 4 weeks of daily treatment.

This treatment again, was not unexpected but we had been expecting it to happen only next June or Dec. However, now that he thinks we should get it ASAP, the coming December seemed the best option. She would be having term break for a month and work would be lean for us as well.

So yes, just like that, my plan for December, for both her and me, changed from attending film festivals and holidaying in Kerala, to a few weeks of radiation therapy.

But then that's how the Universe works I guess.

So yes, bring on the lemons.

Am already planning the Christmas party that I will throw when she is back home after her last day of radiation treatment.

That would be my lemonade.

275 more to go.

Day 224 : Yet Another MRI.

And after all those wonderful celebrations, comes the D-Day. Madam's next MRI scan.

So as always, we set off for Mt. Elizabeth hospital, got her admitted (the children's ward was full, so she got admitted into the rather boring and depressing adult ward which quickly got her bored in 2 minutes), did the whole routine of changing into scrubs, getting vitals checked multiple times, get wheeled into the MRI centre (totally unnecessary but we make it a fun wheel chair ride), wrestled with the anesthesia process as always, waited outside as the little one got her umpteenth MRI done, waited for her to come out of the anesthesia, slowly got her to drink water and juice and eat some food after several hours of fasting, kept her entertained until discharge, gave into all her macaron and chocolate demands, and all the while waiting for the results.

Usually the doctor comes before discharge and gives us the update but today, he was caught up in a surgery and we were asked to come back tomorrow.

So that was that.

What was beautiful about the day?

The fact that she braved through another day in the hospital, and was as fresh as ever when she got back home after several hours.
The fact that we have such a bunch of supportive friends, a few even came down to give us company in the hospital, even though it was only a scan and not something more serious like the surgery. God bless them!
The fact that we could all still smile and laugh and crack jokes in the midst of it all.

I guess for now, that will do. Tomorrow, we get the results.

276 more to go. 

Day 223 : The Real Birthday & Diwali!

So Madam's "real" birthday falls today, October 30th. The reason why neither of the two birthday parties were help today was because we wanted to take it easy. Tomorrow, she will be going for her follow up MRI scan and we didn't want to do a late night, high intense celebration right before that.

Instead, we made our way to the temple in the morning and had a quiet Diwali celebration in the evening at home. After the visit to the temple, Madam and I even made a visit to McDonalds for her favourite treat - Nuggets with Ice Cream. We also spent some time reading through all the birthday messages that came pouring in for her.

Thanks to our helper who was super enthusiastic about celebrating Diwali as well as Madam's birthday, there was a pretty Rangoli outside our front door, there was a lot of prep for a puja and there was payasam and puri and channa made especially for the occasion. Such was her enthusiasm that she even convinced me to wear a sari to conduct the puja! It was the first time the husband and I found ourselves doing a proper puja at home of any kind, all on our own, and of course, we had to take the help of Google on how to go about it.

So yes, that's how the "reel" birthday (as Madam likes to call it) was spent. It was quiet, peaceful, and I think in a lot of ways, spent in mentally preparing for tomorrow.

At the temple

Rangoli

Puja prep

Diyas

Sari time

277 more to go. 

Day 222 : Birthday Party #2!

It was time for Madam's second birthday party! So once again it was time for some shopping (not just for the birthday but also lights, flowers, sweets for Diwali), prepping the house, dressing up and all that jazz. It was yet another real fun party! 

As usual, it started with the cake cutting (the gorgeous floral cake was courtesy of my friend who had attended the party with her two lovely little darling kids) and then ended with the kids and adults going wild with some serious dancing! 

The kids were so tired and hoarse by the end of it all, but nobody wanted to end the party. Only after many promises of meeting again soon to dance together could the kids be separated. 

Ah, what a beautiful evening and what a beautiful birthday! 

Blowing the candles!

The gorgeous cake!

Play time!

Me & the kiddos in our kaala chashmas, all set to shake a leg to the song!

And then we danced....

And danced...

And danced!

278 more to go. 

Day 215 : Birthday Celebration #1!

It was Madam's Birthday Celebration #1. Her actual birthday is on 30th, but I decided to split the celebration into two - one for my gang of friends from NUS and another one for my gang of "film" friends. It was just easier that way to manage the crowds, suit people's availability and of course, Madam gets two birthday parties, so there were no complaints there.

The whole day went in shopping and decorating and prepping and of course, the party itself. Madam had a ball with her besties while the adults had a ball with the "loom band bracelet" activity I had gotten them to do. The winner of the activity was judged my Madam herself and it was all pretty fun! But, I shall simply let the pictures do the talking on this one!

With the indispensable Lakshmi aunty!

The custom made Paw Patrol cake, following every word of Madam's brief!

Me explaining the rules of the game. 

Time to unwrap all those gifts!

Choosing the winner of the loom band bracelet activity!

The proud winners!

The proud winners with their winning prize - a whole set of bands with loom to make more bracelets! :D
 

Thus Birthday Celebration #1 came to an end. A super, duper fun day! 

285 more to go. 

Day 213 : "Little Chef"!

Today there was a fun activity at Madam's school. The kids were to partner with their dads to make breakfast for their mommies. Needless to say, it was a fascinating event! All the dads looked visibly uncomfortable and ready to run the minute someone would let them off.

We had to carry our own ingredients for the event, so we armed ourselves with some fruits, bread and spreads, because what else would a dad make except for sandwiches. OK fine, some made muesli and salads, but you get the point.

It was a really fun event - Madam seemed to really enjoy herself (at least for most part of it), what our Junior Chef and her dad made was quite pretty, and we moms had to go up to the stage and taste and comment on it. It was all quite amusing.

A good day for the dad, the daughter and the mom who watched it all!

All set for the Little Chef event!

The Chefs at work!

The Chefs at work!

The final product - Red Riding Hood & a Bunny, apparently!

At the final "presentation"!

Madam's classmates checking out her cooking skills. They LOVED the Red Riding Hood!

After much begging, she obliges with a full sized chef photo. 

287 more to go. 

Day 209 : Science Centre!

Today's "outing" was to the Science Centre, mainly to see a show on Dinosaurs at the Omni theatre (planetarium). It used to be my favourite haunt in my first few years in Singapore and I used to make sure it was on the itinerary of every visitor I had from India.  But over time, somehow the fascination had died. But I was thrilled to discover that Madam has now taken on the fascination and she watched the huge screen and the dinosaurs on it with much focus and much wonder for 30 minutes.

Post the screening, we spent about 2 hours inside the science centre, "exploring", "experimenting" and "discovering" various things. Madam was completed smitten by the place and she even spent a good half an hour poking things on to this Marble Wall.

I guess we all left the place feeling a little bit enlightened!

Dad & Daughter experimenting on the "Marble Wall"

291 more to go.

Day 208 : The Diwali Dhamaka Begins!

October is clearly a month of festivities. After Durga Puja, now we have the Diwali celebrations kicking off. For us, it started with a party at my brother in law's house. With some great food and fun games, I had a good time!

I am determined to make the most out of every bit of festivities that are coming up - Madam's birthday parties and Diwali, before we need to return to the hospital for her next MRI scan on the 31st of this month. That would be nerve wrecking as always, but till then (and after that)... it's going to be fab!

292 more to go. 

Day 200 : Like Madam, Like Me!

Today I discovered that Madam and a much younger me, look about the same. Usually her round cheeks are attributed to her dad. but am happy to note that I might have had something to do with those cheeks too. Talk about small joys!

300 more to go.