Every time i go to chennai, i get butterflies in the stomach now. Probably because i can never see my appa in the airport anymore :( I get this mixed feeling..it is exciting to visit chennai, but it is sad that appa is not part of the trip anymore for me :-( AJ talks so much now and he is reading and writing..and what not! Appa would've enjoyed him thouroughly and would've bragged about him to all his friends like how he used to about the other grandchildren.
Chennai rocks inspite of the heat. It was extremely cold in london..so the chennai heat was unbearable! It was a speed breaker for me. I had planned so much and i couldn't do 1/2 of it. I guess i was over ambitious too. Anyways, whatever i did, i enjoyed that and so did the kids and i think B too. B didnt go out much, thanks to IPL!! But, that was probably the best part of the trip for him. My bro, B and Ashu went to the stadium to watch one of the matches. Great experience for Ashu. He was raving about it. I saved the tickets for him as a souvenier, but i cant remember where i put it :( He got a flag and zhu zhu ( i dont know how to spell it) inflatable thingy too. He saved those as souveniers and thankfully radhika had packed them for him :)
The day we landed we had Janani's bday party. It was fun, inspite of the jetlag. Was glad Ashu and AJ mingled with Jan and Gau's friends and had fun. I thought they will be shy. What was i drinking?! The next day was Pondugal at appu mama's house. All my cousins from mom's side were there and ashu and aj were uncontrollable. They had lots of fun and did not even check whether i was there or not. Later that day i went to buy saree for Vinod's wedding with mom, UR mami and Manoj and due to traffic and all i came back only after 2.5 hours and as soon as i entered mama started scolding me saying that i took too much time and the kids were troubling..and i got so scared. He was only kidding and everyone started laughing. He said both of them didnt ask for me even once. What loving children!! :D Later in the night, around 12 AJ went to Vinod and asked him to take him to the park!! Konjam over-a illai?
Next day, after ashu and aj went with appu mama for few rounds in scooter, we went to inlaws place. I went by auto as i had to take a suitcase with me and mama came beside me in scooter with the kids. They loved it. The whole day AJ kept asking for appu mama and his scooter :) Reminded me of the times when appa would come every single day of my stay there just to take ashu for a round :-(
Next day Srinithi came and the kids were having fun. Sri was little shy at first but started talking to me after a while. :) The 'Tom and Jerry'-ness has reduced between AJ and Sri, i think :-) But, Gau and AJ are the new T&J i think!! Jan and AJ were ore konjals :) Ashu and Sri were as usual Guru sishyai type and Ashu and Jan were as usual book pals. After couple of days we went to the mandapam and had a great time with all the uncles, aunts, cousins etc. My dad's side uncles and aunts came too and couple of my cousins came too. It was so great to meet all of them. The only downside was the heat...but that didnt stop the fun. After the wedding, the trip got hectic as we had to meet several people, friends..family etc and then start and wrap up the shopping as soon as we could and pack!! Another cousin visited us with his family. I had a good time with them, especially the kids. They are all grown up now..Made me feel old (Did i say that?!) Ok, they made me feel older than before...
After the wedding, we managed to goto the beach twice. Once on Saturday, as soon as we left the mandapam we went to appu mama's house and then we went shopping and had dinner at a punjabi dhaba. After that we returned home (mom's place), but on the way we decided to go for a drive on the beach road, but once we hit the road me, my sil and the kids started nagging my brother and B to stop there and went to the beach, got wet and had tons of fun. We literally had to drag aj back home. He was screaming that he wants to go back!! We had icecream and left the beach. And we went again on the day before we left chennai. B didnt come this time as he was busy with packing and i was at mom's place. I went with brother's family and cousins. It was lot of fun. All uncles had come to send me off too, but they stayed athome and didnt join us. After we returned we had dinner and were all chatting till 2 in the night. Me and the kids left around 8.30 in the morning to inlaws place. wrapped up the packing and had lunch and we all left to the airport. amma joined us in the airport. This time we had booked tickets thro' delhi. non stop flight from delhi to chicago. Flight was quite convenient, but delhi airport sucked. Too much waiting and lots of inconveniences...Dont know if it was just our luck or if it is that way usually. Ashu started crying in the flight that he wants to stay in chennai for longer time :-( Me too Me too..didn't cry this time as mom came with me,but i miss chennai and everyone in chennai though :-( I asked AJ if he misses chennai and he said NO, but after couple of days he said, come let's go to mama's house and then to the beach. It is nice when you dont know the distance/time concept yet..
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