it is 17 months since we moved to Kerala, months of constant discoveries of oneself, the family and our environment. nothing is like before. everything is changed.

    rakhi passed by without a murmur in our town in Kerala. if not for the Facebook updates and pictures, i might have forgotten about it completely. we did not celebrate Rakhi. the power of the bond between siblings is as unassuming as it is strong. and, i found that bond grow around me when i hear my son and daughter actually conversing with each other, running with our dog, the teasing banter and the fact that they started sleeping by themselves in their own room - they have each other.



    around this time, we took a long drive in the monsoons to our estates at the foot of the mountains. some pictures from then.










ps
how fast they grow!

the weekend we were rained in

...not literally, because we actually dressed up and went out to a delicious dinner Saturday night. But otherwise, we stayed put in the house and watched movies on TV. I saw 'Nights in Rodanthe' and the movie especially stands out because it is set in a beautiful blue cottage by the sea and I ate five chocolate chip cupcakes while watching it. This was straight after lunch!

I'll just leave be the disturbing trivia and try to succinctly describe 'the weekend we were rained in.' The forecast and the skies were bleak, bleak, bleak. Bleak has a colour - the dreariest of grey.



But, beyond the colourless skies lay the most beautiful sight, that of the clouds lifting from the hills some distance away. I did sit there mesmerised at the wonders and subtlety of nature, not also because I was really, really full and could barely move!



I drank in the viivd greens and delighted in the dance of the rain drops. Very zen-like and uplifting...



...till I focused on the droplets on the lights hanging since Christmas last. blah!



Did I tell you we have a new pet - a German Shepherd pup that is called 'Blackie' by the daughter and 'Doggie' by the son.



Hope you all have a lovely week ahead and I better think of working off the calories I gained just sitting and eating.



But, aren't the greens just so divine and refreshing!!