More matching dresses, courtesy of the local Target store and the kids school for making their own "tie-dye" shirts..
Goes without saying that the kids will give me one good pose and one "kurangu" (monkey) pose for every photo shoot.. Apparently that is their norm.. the photographer just found out about this today.
They make great models. Was worried that the 5D has developed a focus issue of sorts but after cleaning the lenses and mounting pins carefully, looks like there are no big issues..
We did go visit the beach once during this trip and managed to spend a little under two hours. The added bonus was the presence of the cousins.
Previous beach post from same beach here and another beach here..
This trip in pictures and video..
It was a good place to practice panning shots of the kids on the "raatnams"!
What is a beach post without a video?
We had good fun the first few days in Chennai and this beach trip was a big part of it. We were also strongly discouraged by family from going to the Marina beach. Apparently it is in bad shape compared to our last trip in 2008. We will check it out on our next trip..
Talking of trips, my MIL told the girls
"daddy is thinking of selling everything here and going to Chennai. I am going to go live in Seattle.. You girls can come visit me for summer vacation here"
Jr. : So where will we be when daddy goes to Chennai?
MIL : he will take you all with him. he is not planning to go alone
Jr. : No way! I am not going..
LO : Jumps up and runs to me and says "I WILL GO!".. then gives me a hug and says "I will go with you but first you should make sure you kill all the mosquitoes in Madras and then I will come!"
All of us laughed out loud. So my going and living in Chennai is in the hands of the Madras Corporation who are incharge of eradicating mosquitoes and the rest of Chennaivasis who have to get rid of stagnant water!
Who knows? Maybe someone will invent an eradicator and I get to convince the little one?
Top ten items that are needed to convince <10 year old girls to relocate :
1- dry bathroom floors 2- western toilets 3- toilet paper 4- central air conditioning 5- inverters that keep fan running during powercuts 6- AC cars 7- no insects (ants, flies, mosquitoes, roaches etc.) 8- clean public restrooms 9- no stench (from roadside dumps, garbage trucks stuck in traffic etc.) 10-no street dogs
There are more items on the list but this is their priority list..
Another blast from the past post from the good old Banarasi Babu days. We used to go to a dhaba on the edge of Lanka road, outside the college gate called Sebak and eat the "usual" dal tadka and tawa rotis, followed by some rice with yogurt.
Then we used to stroll across the street (which was all of 10 feet wide) to get some hot milk or rabdi (this is north Indian liquid'y Therattupaal for those South Indians reading this blog) before getting back on our bicycles and riding back all the way to the hostel. By the way, the only two cycle shops in Lanka gate which compete with each other are still there but we see a lot more bikes and scooties inside BHU than cycles!
We stopped at Sebak and my wife and FIL gave me a look. San's eyes said "Who are you and what have you done with my husband?" while my FIL looked at this thing with amusement. He said "I am not sure if Sangeetha or the kids will come and eat at this dhaba but if you want to go ahead, eat".. so off I went and ordered the usual and finished it off in record time.
The street outside sebak is only wide enough for two autos or pat-pats. A Toyota Innova completely blocks the road and that meant I had to eat before a cop came and pushed us out. We took the Dahi and rabdi "to go" and Pahelwanji said thank you in his usual style..
He asked me "Aap kitne saal baad vaapas aaarahe hi?" (after how many years are you coming back?). Must have been an obvious guess from the way yours truly was drooling at the rabdi on that giant plate!
Later at night the little one who loves sweets gave her verdict
"This is really good Appa!"
It is a crying shame that we don't have the likes of Sebak and Pahelwan here..
