Durga Puja at Boston

Yesterday night, I was talking to my mother when she reminded tommorrow is "Ashtami" and how puja celebration is in full flow at Shipra Sun City. She was missing us especially bittu and that made me nostalgic.
My memory went 20 yrs back when university bus from Sabour used to take us to Bhagalpur and then we used to hop from one pandal to another eating Raj Kachori, Gol Gappa on the way. How papa used to buy gas balloon for each one of us and how much we used to enjoy when balloon of my brother used to blow or somehow one of us missed the thread and balloon goes in air. The fortunate one used to hold gas balloon like a medal back in home.
I was lost in the golden memories when my friend Diptam called and informed there is Durga Puja celebration at Wilson Middle School, Boston and whether we would like to come. No second thought and we planned for saturday morning.
It was bright sunny day and we headed for Wilson school on the way watching leaves having beautiful colours. There was traffic on highway and it seems everyone was heading for New Hampshire for seeing colour of leaves in this fall season.
We reached Wilson school in 30 min. and it looked quiet new and spread out in wide area. By looking at the parking lot, I just imagined the scene inside the school. After few turns here and there Diptam finally got the parking lot. Puja room was set up in a very big room looked like a indoor sports room and was crowded with guys wearing traditional kurta pyjama, ladies looking gorgeous in sarees & heavey jewellery and children were bindaas running here and there.
We had puja, photography session and I looked around the notice board which had instructions as what children should eat,drink and how much physical activity is required to keep themselves fit. With survey projecting majority of kids in US school obesse there are directions to school to provide healthy foods (no more coke and french fries). There was another interesting notice listing crimes and their consequences if repeated again. So if a children is caught chewing gum in class, one can be warned and if it occurs repeatedly he can be asked to do community service or may be remove all gums from the tables.
After puja we had delicious lunch of kichri (had after a long time), veg curry, papad, strawberry chutney and kalakand. Had burps and then Nimisha and Soumi rushed to corridor where there were stalls for fancy salwar, saree and jewellery.My heart was pounding, if she select one of these I have to spend fortune. Ahhh it just turned around to be window shopping.
There was cultural programme next in queue and it started with drama on "Shakuntala". Though this drama was in bengali but the best part was classical dance which used to convey the message very clearly and was performed by all kids. Bittu was a silent spectator watching colourful lights , small gals wearing attractive dress and dancing. Though occasional applause used to scare him.
Finally we had dinner and it was bit chill outside so it was time to say Good Bye.

First vaccination at Boston

18th Sept
It was fine sunny day and we had taken an appointment with Dr. Manorama Mathur at Salem Street for well care baby checkup for Bittu.It was at 11 AM so I had planned to go late to office and Nimisha was quiet busy from morning and bit excited to get vaccination done.
We boarded bus 106 for Salem street and after 15 min. we got down and then we realized this salem Street was in Medford and few local people informed that there is another SalemStreet at Malden so we hurriedly boarded another bus and now Nimisha tells she has left the medical file of beta at home.
We were already struggling to find the clinic and now medical report is left at home. Someday one thing happens after another. We again went back to Malden and I tried to arrange the cab and meanwhile Nimisha hurriedly went back to get the report.
We dashed for clinic in cab with 15. in hand.The clinic was at lovely residential area where you had few houses at top of small hill. We did reached on time but there were more trouble waiting for us. The receptionist says they are not able to find the appointment - ghosh they didn't made an entry in their system. Thanks for the doctor who agreed to see bittu.
After completing all formalities of registration doctor did thorough check up with do's and dont's and few recommended foods. Lastly, Bittu got Hepatitis B3 and Prevnar vaccination.He did cried with shrill voice but brave boy was quiet within minutes and we came back home.

Sit like a frog

Now my son bittu can sit like a frog and the next step is crawling for which I am waiting patiently.

Yoga

When I was gaining weight people adviced me to go for yoga but all those advice just crossed from one ear to another but this chap seems to have listened all those advices and have started doing yoga. He will hold both feets with his hand and then puts toes in his mouth a feat I have never succeeded.

Playing with Jojo !!

One of my friend Diptam visited my house and have given wonderful musical teddy bear called jojo. You press nose and it says nose , you press left hand it sings rhymes and you press right hand it sings ABC, you press tummy it says hugs me and you press feet it sings wonderful songs and a light blinks.This is now bittu favourite toy and he enjoys pressing different parts and listening rhymes.

Completed six months

16th Sept 2006
This naughty boy completed six months and days went like a zoom.
Sometimes, I think just few days back he was such a delicate baby when I was scared of holding while he was in hospital. I used to wait for hours when he is going to open his eyes.

Then I started holding him up in both hands with utmost care for his neck and he used to open his eyes give me a smile.

Then I started keeping him on one hand and his head on my shoulder again extra precaution for his neck and he started grasping my fingers and holding dada jee shirt pockets.

He gained strength started moving his head in one direction to another and no more support on his neck and very much fascinated of lights and moving fans. I remember there was a power cut and he was getting cranky b'coz of dark and candle light too didn't bring that relief. I carried him to nearby Kempforte mall where he was so excited seeing vehicle lamps and neon lights on the streets and malls. Watching moving fans was his favourite pastime.

I was so relaxed when he started sitting on my lap though with support atleast one of my hand was freed up to do multi tasking. His cooh caah sound used to bring smile on everyones face. Reliance unlimited phone was more getting used to have my mom in delhi listening his pota making noise in bangalore.

I was so excited when he started rolling first one roll then two-three rolls and then it also let me realize, sleepless nights are not yet over as you never know when he is going to roll over from the bed itself and dhum!!

Now he can sit like a frog, roll back and tries to drag but not able to move forward, makes lot of noise and poor dad/mom trying to understand his language. If he sleeps in east-west I find him North-South in the morning. He responds when one calls his name. He has started eating solid (paste) food. Following our rich tradition he too has sweettooth. When he is excited he will throw his hand and legs with a big smile without tooth.

He is scared when pressure cooker whistles, when crowd is clapping in some events, gets up in the dark and fire alarm goes on.
He is delighted when someone lifts him up, papa taking him for a evening ride on his favourite stroller and mom giving him massage makes him feel so relaxed and he is so happy splashing water in his baby bath tub. He enjoys watching himself in mirror wondering how did this duplicate came?

Six months went like a lightining speed but every moments can be cherished through out the life.

Sleeping postures

16th Sept 2006
Look how this sweet boy sleeps.
When he sleeps, I think why he is sleeping the house is so quiet and when he is going to wake up. When he wakes up, I think when he is going to sleep and I complete all my pending stuff :-)
BTW - His favourite sleeping posture is with handup. Not sure what does it signifies in terms of profession which he will make an entry but I am scared :-)

Name changed to Bittu

Even before his birth, we choosed 5 boys and gals name and posted it on parenting site for voting from our close friends and relatives and we sorted out 2 names for both M/F. After his birth we gave him the name Aryan - a sanskrit word meaning honourable/respectable man.
But the pet name was debatable. I called him Chicki and her mom called him betu his dadajee called sonu and dadi called laddu beta and nana/nani called varun and I call him funkey monkey when he is naughty. He was called by so many lovable names that he got lost but responds positively when one calls betu. Well, her mom spends lot of time with him and calls betu so he recognizes it better.
So finally we decided to call him bittu as he is now used to mummy calling him betu which sounds familiar to betu.During earlier months I did liked kittu but it seems it's bit girlish so have kept it bittu. Let's see whether everyone in home likes this name and it catches up.

Eating Paper - No Papa

14th Sept
Beta enjoys making noise so no better toy than a sheet of paper which he folds, crumbles and like the crackling sound and tearing it away. One day this new game is going to come on me when he will tear my books as well.

Though we pay careful attention but yesterday he chewed those tiny bits of paper. It was when her mom found that small bit of paper has been chewed from large sheet that she put her finger in her mouth and brought all tiny bits of paper outside.
Those white papers were clinging in his upper jaw so for few sec. I thought his teeth is coiming :-) but putting the fingers in his mouth we found it was tiny papers.
Watch Video

Started sitting with support

By August end, Aryan started sitting on sofa though with support. We keep him on corner of sofaset well supported from back and sides and he just watches everything and plays with his favourite toys.

Started rolling

During mid August (5 months) , beta started rolling. He takes one roll then tries to put his weight on his hand but it seems stomach is not strong enough and then he whines. so we have to go and turn him back and then he will again take a roll. He has started enjoying taking rolls.
By first week of sept, he started taking number of rolls and now starts our sleepless night. During night if he sleeps in east-west position, one finds him in north south position in morning. We have now left keeping him on bed as you never know that you take a blink and humpty dumpty make a fall. One thing I found strange is that this babies are not scared of height. You warn him not to go to edges and he will go and have a look what lies beneath the bed or sofa.

Enjoys ringtone

Sometimes beta gets cranky and the best way to bring him back to his mood is by playing different ringtones of my cell. Well, now I show him different colours and plays tones for him and he enjoys touching it but days are not far when I need to hide the cell or lock the buttons.
Now when I am talking of cell, I remember two stories of my friend.

One fine day, one of my neighbour comes to our house that his kid has thrown the cell somewhere so he needs our cell to ring it up and find out where it is. To everyones surprise his cell was found inside his shoe. I often keep my cell in vibrating mode so morale of the story is if you have baby and cell keep it in loud ring mode.
One of my friend relative called him on his cell that he got few calls from this cell and it seems your beta is playing with it. He too was enjoying his voice so kept on listening :-) Thanks god it was just his relative otherwise you need to explain why there was a blank call.

New England Aquarium

27th August 2006
New England Aquarium is located in the heart of Boston city at Aquarium T-Station.
It has giant ocean tank (cylindrical) which houses sharks, turtles, and many smaller reef-living fish. It's opened at the top and surrounded by walkway where talks on aquarium goes at regular intervals.
There were several penguins and we also attended harbour seal exhibit. Electric eels and sea dragons were worth seeing.


Beta was quiet happy seeing colourful fish in lighted enclosed glass.

Annaprasan

24th August 2006.
Beta has now completed 5.5 months so we started feeding him with solid foods (paste).
I had a great desire to do "Annaprsaan" with great pomp and show but unfortunately we are seven seas apart so was a homely affair.
We just started experimenting with different food and here is the outcome.





Mashed banana with milk is delight
Apple Puree - boiled mashed apple with water - He thrusts himself to reach spoon and licks the spoon even it gets over - very happy
Papaya shake (Mashed papaya with milk) is received with great excitement.
Dal ka pani is received with frowning face
Carrots with mashed potato with added mild salt is rejected.
Fruit yogurt - Quiet Excited

Following our rich tradition of having sweet tooth so all salty stuffs are greeted with frown on his face and sweet food is met with smile and excitement.

BTW - Can you eat like my beta with food splashed all over his mouth ?? Yummy Yummy!!

Socks and Shoes getting dropped

23rd August 2006
Everday when I come from office, I take him for an evening walk on his stroller. Here in Boston days are sunny and it gets slightly chilled during evening so have it pack him up from top to bottom.
When beta goes outside, he gets so excited seeing cars, people and it's surrounding that he throws his hands and legs throughout the time. One of his favourite pastime is rubbing his feet and taking out socks and shoes and throwing it away. Often we see people running from behind or calling us hey he dropped his shoe. When we are not so lucky and reaches home we just find one socks/shoes missing from his feet.
Today, I barely walked for 100 mt. when I saw one his best shoe is missing from his feet and this was a matching shoe with one his best dress and I thought I cannot afford to loose it. Finally, I sat outside Malden subway station , nice place with bench and small garden and can find people sitting there in evening and her mom went back searching all the way to get his shoes.
We were fortunate that we got that and it seems we need to buy shoes which has lace.

Quincy Market

20th August 2006
On the return journey from MIT we headed for Quincy market at Boston downtown. This place is at Faneuill Hall Market place and crowded through out the time and is one of the most lively place in Boston.
There were jugglers, clowns, magicians, musicians entertaining visitors and numerous eateries and outdoor cafes won't leave you without munching.
One of the unique thing about Boston is that you will find colourful cow statue throughout the major places in city.
How can Aryan not have a snap with one of those?

Visit to Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

20th August 2006
This was our 2nd weekend in Boston and we thought nothing better that spending time at world renowned technology school at MIT. We got down at Kendell T-Station and walked on the sides of Charles river getting an excellent view of the institute. We visited the great dome which has big letters of Massachusetts Institute of Technology carved in it.
Surrounding buildings had names of famous scientists (Aristotle, Newton, Franklin, Pasteur, Lavoisier, Faraday, Archimedes, da Vinci, Darwin, and Copernicus) carved in it with large roman letters.
It was bit disappointing to see my son sleeping throughout the tour :-) It seems not very keen on coming here.

Whale Watch

19th August 2005

As beta was getting dressed with his new dress he was making noise with excitement. Somewhere in his mind it was we are going outside.
We boarded Orange line subway from Malden T-Station and the destination was Acquarium. This is an extremely nice place where you can spend whole day watching cruises, small boats and you have acquarium,I-MAX theatre. If you have appetite for sea food then there are number of restaurants at your service.We went for Whale watch, a 3hr cruise on high-speed catamarans and they mentioned during the trip no whale no money.Guess what - We didn't got the refund :-) and we did saw number of whales on the way. Everyone was at outside deck and one person points his fingers and you can see hundreds of head turning in that direction. Hey, look see there you have one.


Wind was strong so I sat with Aryan inside the cabin and we took turns to go outside. He was bit scared due to noise and uncomfortable with the strong wind and his facial expression reflects the same.

Much needed stroller

14th Aug
Harvard trip was real fun but it also made me realize that beta is no more light and moving with a 6 kg baby won't be that easy.
The same evening we went to K-Mart and bought stroller for him and now this is his best friend.

Visit to Harvard

13th August 2006
This was our first weekend in Boston and I thought nothing better than to start the trip by paying homage to world renowned Harvard University. If not me atleast beta gets inspired to join one day.
It was bright sunny day and we boarded subway at Malden T station and beta was bubbling with energy watching passing by trees, vehicles, people. After 30 min. journey, we reached Harvard subway and just outside the T-station started the Harvard university. On the road side there were number of shops and restaurants and the most fascinating thing was people playing chess in one of those shades.
It was weekend but was crowded with number of visitors and each one not forgetting to take snap of library which is supposed to be one of the largest in the world. As we progressed we crossed president office, dormitories but Aryan slept even before we entered the gates of Harvard which was quiet disappointing to me.
After 2 hrs of tour and asking address crossing bridge, we finally reached much desired Harvard Business School (HBS). It was weekend and hardly there was anyone on the campus. It seems there was summer vaccation and people might be busy in their summer internship. The ambience and landscape was excellent and would had won anyone's heart.
The good part was that by the time we reached HBS beta woke up and I was glad that HBS was worth visit. I plan to put this photograph in his bedroom and I just hope that someday he plans to study here which will be like dream coming true.

Journey to Boston

5th September 2006
This trip will stand memorable as I had to fight against all odds. The travel plan came at very short notice and and most of the household items were sold at dirt price.Last few days were extremely hectic and the worst sufferer was Aryan.Even before flying he was down with fever so that too was a hindrance in getting personal work done at time. We didn't slept on Thursday night - packaging - Friday night at Mumbai airport till 3:15 AM and then again Saturday night flying so utter exertion.
Out of 9 hrs journey from Mumbai to London beta has almost cried for 5 hrs and so I faced all stary eyes. Beta has got evergreen smile and whines (not cries) only when he is hungry or when he is not given attention and this is the first time when he is crying continously and out of control for both of us.I really feel pity and fever, running nose, cough and nappy rashes have aggravated the situation.
There was break journey of 9 hrs at Heathrow airport which was kind of relief. Beta had a nice sleep and slept almost for 7-8 hrs. London to Boston was comfortable though he was cranky as well.
Logan International Airport is on sea shore so it seems as if you are landing on water. We had number of heavey bags so had called van for the purpose. Reached Malden by 9 PM but story is not yet over.Keys were supposed to be with security guys but they were not around and finally Debashis came for rescue. Stayed at his placed for sometime and finally got the keys in midnight and had a deep nice sleep after 3 days.

Plunge in blogging world

This is my first entry to the blogging world and I will write a diary for my son ARYAN who will cherish these wonderful moments when he grows up and I will re-visit all the leaves when I will be on the rocking chair.