Air-travel with kids 101

Tips on Air-travel with really young kids.

- If stroller does not fit in your perimeter, chose a baby-carrier for infants.

- Have light cabin bag or none at all. Ok none is not possible, what with diapers, bottles, formula & change of clothes. Whatever cabin bag, have one with WHEELS. Oh yes ! that and never overpack.

- Dont forget to request for Bassinet with airlines at the time of checkin, incase you are travelling with infants.

- Before boarding at the gate, request for Wheelchair assistace at the destination. This will speed things up for you. You can travel in Airport-caddy. And in India you can bypass long queues at Customs/Immigration desks.

I don't know why airports have this thing to collect boarding passes each time at every hop airport, for infants. This is as opposed to getting boarding passes for all hops at the first airport itself. So we need to conserve energy and get things done as fast as possible.

Wiscousin Dells

Wiscousin Dells. 2 hours drive from Minneapolis.



Rides were fun. The drive was fun too.

Got to see actual cows ! And clothes hanging on line to dry in open !
Ya, both a novelty for apartment dwellers !



We went on a gloomy, cloudy, not-yet-springtime weekend. So most outdoors were closed. But water-rides were fun.



Anyway there are way too many rides for only a weekend. I have seen more on TLC, than live on a weekend.

Spring Travel

Its beautiful spring out here.

And its time for me to packup for Bangalore.

Bill passed

Women's Reservation Bill passed in Rajya Sabha !!!

Yippeeee Hoooo......

Khanomenclature

While I am still in the 'naming' hangover, I might as well make a list of Aamir Khan names. He has managed to play characters with such distinct names. I mean, yes he began as Raj in QSQT. But then he moved away.

The first name and surname could be so simple ones. But taken together and when played by Aamir, they become so distinct, they just stick to my mind. Like Raghu Jaitley of Dil Hain ki Manta Nahin. That's one movie I know the dialogs and with their background music.

All this came back to me after watching 3 Idiots.
Ranchhoddas Shymaldas Chachad
Rancho
Baba Ranchordas
and the name revealed in the very end.
I am ready to bet, no other Hindi film hero, ever had such sounding name or from that region.

Ghajini (2008)	Sanjay Singhania or Sachin
Taare Zameen Par (2007)	Ram Shankar Nikumbh
Fanaa (2006)	Rehan
Rang De Basanti (2006)	Daljeet 'DJ' / Chandrashekhar Azad
The Rising: Ballad of Mangal Pandey (2005)	Sepoy Mangal Pandey
Dil Chahta Hai (2001)	Akash Malhotra
Lagaan: Once Upon a Time in India (2001)	Bhuvan
Mela (2000)	Kishan Pyare
Mann (1999)	Karan Dev Singh
Sarfarosh (1999)	Ajay Singh Rathod
Earth (1998)	Dil Navaz
Ghulam (1998)	Siddharth Marathe
Raja Hindustani (1996)	Raja Hindustani
Rangeela (1995)	Munna
Aatank Hi Aatank (1995)	Rohan
Baazi (1995)	Inspector Amar Damjee
Akele Hum Akele Tum (1995)	Rohit Kumar
Andaz Apna Apna (1994) (as Aamir Khhhan)	Amar Manohar (His Amar to match Salman's Prem)
Hum Hain Rahi Pyar Ke (1993)	Rahul Malhotra
Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar (1992)	Sanjaylal Sharma
Parampara (1992)	Ranvir Prithvi Singh
Isi Ka Naam Zindagi (1992)	Chhotu
Afsana Pyar Ka (1991)	Raj
Dil Hai Ki Manta Nahin (1991)	Raghu Jetley
Dil (1990)	Raja
Tum Mere Ho (1990)	Shiva
Awwal Number (1990)	Sunny
Deewana Mujh Sa Nahin (1990)	Ajay Sharma
Jawani Zindabad (1990)	Shashi Sharma
Love Love Love (1989)	Amit Verma
Raakh (1989)	Amir Hussein
Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak (1988)	Raj

Source IMDB

Monk Rocket Boy

My very first White Christmas. My Daughter's very first White Christmas too. And my Son's very first Christmas ever ! Yes, we welcomed him 2 weeks back and I became Mom, for the second time. In the middle of this crowded household, Hubby is doing just fine.

Last month and half has been momentous totally. Among other things, I travelled half-way across the world, from Bangalore to Minnesota. With my toddler and 30-week belly. (My travel bug is not over yet. Have another move scheduled next month) Lesson learnt in this air-travel - Be hands-free if you are with a toddler. Not even a purse- forget about cabin luggage. Because toddlers can fall asleep - yes. And strollers or trolleys are not allowed everywere in the airport. So.



What is more painful than the labour and delivery pain ? It's deciding your kids name. Oh yes, it is. Last time we spent 3 months on finalising a name. This time we had only 3 days. And I saw "Rocket Singh - Salesman of the year" same week, but after delivery, else the job would have been easier. Yes, Rocket Singh is my current favourite movie. Its definitely going tomake it to my DVD collection. Loved each character, every partner, his boss, their quirks. Dialoges were all picked up from normal real life ofcourse. Not surprising since they have such a research team in place. But when put to such rocking spy-movie-type background music, it turned out exicting. But I liked it mostly because the first half reminded me of mine and my Hubby's first jobs. But the second-half reminded me why I love my job.



On a side note, Monk got over. Sigh. But they ended this wonderful series perfectly well. For Leland, Randy, Natalie and Sharona. And most importantly for Monk.

Grand Canyon

This has been such a long break - in my travel series. Have almost lost the thread. But putting back the memories of my travel time, nearly 6 months back ... we proceeded from Las Vegas, via Hoover Dam, to the Grand Canyon.

We were short of time and needed a quick tour only. So we went, just in time to watch the sunset, the night stay and watch the sun-rise again.



Inspite of all preparation, what we did not prepare for was the chilly, windy Yavapai Point on the South Rim. We were chilly to our chattering teeth, watching the damn Sun to set asap. In hindsight, ofcourse that was the fun part :)



But there are a lot of things to do in GC. Trekking, camping. Different lodges with well-prepared shopping mart with everything available. You dont feel like you are in the middle of a really grand forest.



Morning, we drove along the East Rim, stopping at every point for a view of the GC from different angles.



On the East Rim, we covered Yaki Point, Shoshone Point , Grandview Point, Moran Point and Zuni Point. And Mohave Point on the West Rim.



After watching this, now I know what 'Grand' means !

By afternoon, we started our drive back to LA. This time we took a route, that skipped Las Vegas. the desert, sand strom, that is something best experienced. 100s of miles of desert. No habitat.

GRAND CANYON was truly an experience. 

• The drive to there was via 100s of miles of desert with brown stones, almost Star Trek like. 
• Faced a never before seen desert storm, which was blinding & scary the way it shook our car. 
• Throughout the drive, I was expecting the Canyons to rise like the ones in Tom Cruise Mission Impossible movie & was getting disappointed as we reached closer. Finally when we parked & went to the viewing spot, oh it took our breath away. Until then I had only Mahabaleshwar for canyon reference & this was 100 times bigger. 
• Now we were going to a hot state in middle of July expecting nothing but hot weather, but the viewing spot turned out to be so windy & cold - we were scavenging our bags to wrap around anything we could to save ourselves. So ironical that we Minnesotans did not have any hoodie or jacket at hand. After this experience almost everyone advised us to take jackets to GC. 

Kaminey

Charlie voiceover: Zindagi mein do raaste hote han – ek fhortcut, doosra chota fhortcut
.................
Charlie: Mein fha ko fha bolta hoon.
Bhope bhau: Fha ko fha nahin bolega to kya bolega.

Dailogues were a gem. Especially the way each of those characters said it.
Characters – each of them a sample.
Story progresses subtly but definitely. So the characters were not an overload.
Songs, ekdum jakaas. I love them more, after watching the movie.
I always liked Shahid, but after JWM and Kaminey, I can say I am a fan.
And I am still so amazed at Vishal Bharadwaj’s track record. How can the guy write, compose, direct and much more, excel in each area and in every of his movies ? Even after so many years, I was blinded by the brilliance of Omkara. And now Kaminey. Too good.

I loved the movie.

Loved this one

Loved this image and news item.

With the silver trophy tucked under one arm and cradling her daughter Jada in the other, Kim Clijsters provided a huge lift for working mothers around the world as she was crowned US Open champion overnight.

....

No one can accuse Clijsters of having an easy ride at the Open as her road to the final included victories over both Venus and Serena Williams.

Amazing story

When I read the headline on Rediff & saw the pic, I thought, "What's the big deal ? Just another hype from Rediff." And when I was about to switch to another window, I glanced down. Boom ! It hit me like anything. Read the whole thing. Truely amazing.

Amazing boy ! Amazing Parents & Sister !