Some Festive Flavours for the Dragon New Year

Resorts World Sentosa, Singapore – Gary, Justin & Amrita

Happy Dragon New Year everyone! Hope you had a fanfare of a time! I’ve nothing much to say, but since a picture speaks a thousand words, here’re some err... let’s see 14,000 words to spice up New Year!


At Sentosa, Singapore during last year’s Chinese New Year

As you can see from the rabbit (in the picture above), the hippie-haired Justin and the still youthful appearance of yours truly in the pictures, these are not from this year’s New Year. This year we spent New Year in the cool (or should I say cold, it was bloody winter) and quiet environment of our house in Assam. No big fanfare, only big feasts and superbly fresh and varied vegetables (as compared with what we can get here in Daund) every other meal. And for the entire time (or more rightly since the beginning of Jan), yours truly was down with a cold. Contrary to what some people think and prescribe, whisky doesn’t cure colds, even if you down a whole bottle with your mates in the evening and wake up the next morning not knowing what hit you the day before.

Frankly speaking, the work here is killing. I am putting in at least 12 hours a day, six days a week, and half a day every alternative Sunday! Why do I do it? ...For the thrill? Hell no! ...For the fun? Not in a hundred years! ...To prove my detractors wrong? More like it. ...To prove to myself? Yes, definitely it! But it seems to be going nowhere, so I don’t really know now why the heck we work so hard for??

Anyway, here’re the rest of the 14000 words...


Family picture, Butterworth


Outside our Butterworth house


Anu & Amrita, atop the ferry to Penang


Chinese (Hainanese) Temple, Penang


Kim, Justin & Amrita at the Hainanese Temple


Burmese Temple, Penang


Thai Temple, Penang


Amrita with a Naga at the Thai Temple, ...the most appropriate photo for this New Year of the Dragon’s post. Come to think of it, I can keep it for next year’s New Year of the Snake too, hehehe


With Mom’s family in Butterworth


The Kuala Lumpur side of the family


Anu, within the twin towers, KLCC


Lion dance at Sungei Wang, Kuala Lumpur

A New Year in the Himalayas

The Swayambhunath Stupa in Kathmandu, Nepal

Happy New Year folks! May 2012 not be what the Mayans think it would be! May our peaceful existence be allowed to continue for some time to come, may the disasters and economic crises not get any worse than they already are at the moment. May you and your loved ones have peace, love, success and happiness! May our health be in tip-top condition. And May God continue to bless all of us.

And here're some pictures of our last New Year spent on the fringes of the great Himalayas in Nepal. How I wish I can go on a holiday right now, than slog it out at this Project here which seems to be going no where no matter how hard we try...


Going on a walk in Pokhara, Nepal


Anu & Amrita shopping for beads in the streets of Kathmandu


Little monster has his own agenda while mommy's busy


Yours truly, enjoying a Nepali dinner in Kathmandu


Nope, this is not in Nepal, this was our Christmas Eve buffet dinner at Windsor Hotel in Delhi, compliments of Jet Airways for screwing up our flight


Some of the many temples near Kathmandu's Durbar Square


Kathmandu's full of narrow streets dotted with temples, shrines and hidden courtyards, wonderful to wander around and get lost in for someone like yours truly


The pigeon-filled Seto Machindranath Temple in a hidden courtyard in Kathmandu


The Bodhnath Stupa (or Boudha as the locals call it), another famous Buddhist site in Kathmandu


Monks frolicking around Bodhnath


The Durbar Square at Bhaktapur


Patan's Durbar Square at dusk

Justin's First Birthday

Hi! In keeping with tradition of posting events one, two or more years late, here're pictures of our little Justin's first birthday, in Silchar last year. He was supposed to be back here in Pune so that yours truly here could celebrate little Justin's first birthday with him, but thanks to our one and only trusted Air India (which cancelled the flight from Silchar to Kolkata on the day that Anu, Justin & Amrita were supposed to fly), there you have it... a party in Silchar. We have pictures also of his second birthday, I'll post it next year, heheheh.


Justin, 1 year old, on our bed in Silchar


Justin & his presents


Justin & mommy


With his Silchar uncle & aunt

Justin Year 2

Our little monster turned 2 recently. He’s smarter now at dismantling / destroying things, he’s smarter at getting what he wants by being really adorable, when he wants to be, kissing us, when he wants to and showing his sad tearful face, if we scold him. Otherwise, nothing much has changed. He has approximately 11 teeth. We force feed him to ensure his growth matches the other kids of his age (and it seems to be working, but we’re reducing his food portions now since our friend advised that we’re feeding him too much). He doesn’t yet know the meaning of fear, meaning that growling dogs in the dark are nothing but an attraction for his curiosity. He knows that falling and getting himself hurt is painful, but that doesn’t stop him from running clumsily on uneven gravel strewn roads, doesn’t stop him from running round and round in circles until he falls over dizzily, and doesn’t stop him from climbing whatever is climbable for his little hands and legs. He can say a few words now like papa, mumma (for mummy), judtin (for justin), ba (for bye), shoe, oben (for open, used for requesting us to open water bottles, and food containers), heyo (for hello), koung-koung (grandfather), ayi (mother, in the local Marathi language), hawa-hawa (from a popular Hindi song), etc.

Here’re some photos of him of the year and before.


Justin, mid-eastern style, 5.5 months old, Istanbul, Turkey


Justin with Turkish travel agent, Istanbul. Justin’s a hit with the local crowd. Somehow or rather, most Turks, if not all, love small babies


With the fairy chimneys, Cappadocia, Turkey


Picking out a ball, slightly more than a year old, Pune Central Shopping Mall


13 months, Kathmandu, Nepal


13.5 months, Mahabaleshwar, Maharashtra, India


Hippie styled baby, Daund


The baby godfather, Scarface, at 19 months, Daund


A picnic in the hills, at our road project stretch, near Ravangaon


Sharing a buffalo, 21 months, Amanora Mall, Pune


Busy on the phone in front of our house, Daund


Botak boy, 21 months old, Phoenix Mall, Pune


Tigger with friend, 22 months


Happy Deepavali!

Airbender on the loose

Justin having a helluva time trying out his skills at water-bending, at what used to be the Tambun Hot Springs in Ipoh


Airbender and his mommy


Swimming pool of the Banjaran Hotsprings Retreat, Tambun

A marriage of another style

Our very own registration, in April 2007, at Bandra, Mumbai. A complete contrast, no relatives and only my work colleagues as witnesses. This month, we commemorated 5 years of our marriage (which we take as the day we eloped from the hills of Mizoram in Nov 2006). Anu, you are the best thing that’s happened to me. With you, I’ve done things which I never imagined myself capable of doing, i.e. taking charge of my own destiny (instead of leaving it to fate). You are the holder of the key to my heart and my best friend, and I love you so. And I truly wish we can celebrate this for the rest of our lives.