Bay Of Bengal

These are some pictures of trips to the local beaches. Marina beach is along the coast of the  Bay of Bengal, which is part of the Indian Ocean. Its about 10 Km from our place , a 20 minute drive if you are driving at 1 AM, and being colour blind would help or if you drive like our Formula none maniacs(a driving description in the The Times of India). The beach is very popular, a must see for any tourist visiting Chennai. We always go to the shore to get our feet wet and soon Ashwin and Priya get wet with their clothes on and have a great time.  

The other pictures  are from a beach  resort about 1 hour from home in a place called Mutukadu. The big attraction here is the swimming pool and we spent most of our time swimming. Helen came with us and we are enjoying her company till she starts work in August. We also ran into some Bostonians at the beach here (identified by the Ellsbury Red Sox shirt) and had a little chat. Hope you enjoy the pictures.

Prize Day 7/12/08

Priya after her first week of school announced she was one of the Bama girls in Kindergarden. It turned out that she was in a play  on Prize day at school, so was one of the drama girls. After  quite a lot  practice  the play 'The selfish giant " was  played to a wide audience. Rani (Prabhu's sister) and Helen came to watch Priya. Following that we went out to celebrate. I have included pictures from  practice; as well as the actual play performance

Prabhu/Ashwin/Priya.

Amma's Birthday

Amma(priya/ashwin's grandmother)  celebrated her 75 th birthday on 7/6/08. After the customary birthday saree purchase at Nalli Silks;  we had a few relatives join us for the celebration. The high point was the candle which burns with a brilliant flame and then opens up to the  tune of the happy birthday song.

Chappathi Girl and Dosai Boy

Hotel Saravana Bhavan has replaced JP Sea Food Cafe as our favourite place to eat out in Chennai . Ashwin and Priya have been trying different South Indian food and seem to enjoy the Idly, Dosai, Chappathi, Coffee(Priya). The coffee at Saravana Bhavan is probably one of the best coffee  I have tasted. It comes in one size with milk and sugar ( Sugarless only by special request, no milk would require a more detailed explanation).  Priya is preparing for her play at Prize day at school. More posting on that later. 

New School

Ashwin and Priya  are attending the Jessie Moses Matriculation School here in Chennai. We are adjusting to the new school , home work etc. The  temperature has been high of 98 F and low of 84 F almost every day.  This doesn't seem to affect the kids and have got used to the climate here.   

Arrival

The last few weeks have been quite busy here in Chennai. We landed on 16th June , 2008  a few minutes after midnight and reunited  with Helen(Ashwin/Priya's cousin) and Raja . Since then Ashwin and Priya have started school within a week. During the admission process the school gave an entrance test for Ashwin ; in which he did very well and solved all the math problems correctly. Though I was not surprised with Ashwin's math skills , I was proud that he was able to go along with the new challenges and also that it was only a day after we landed in Chennai. Priya has been adjusting to her UKG(upper kinder garden ) class . She looks forward to her home work everyday and is practicing cursive writing . It also helped that the husband of Priya's teacher( Mrs Augustine) was my class teacher at Madras Christian College High School. . We are enjoying the mango season here, which should last for a few more weeks. I hope my attempts at uploading pictures work   This is my first blog and I hope it works.

three weeks and counting

Priya Loves Gymnastics

Rounding Third for Home

Priya and Ashwin at church on Mother's Day

We're getting Prabhu, Ashwin and Priya ready to go. Giant duffel bags ready are strewn about the house, Prabhu's filling out forms for his transit visa (don't even ask) and we're enjoying a wonderful round of bon voyage get-togethers with friends and family.

Ashwin and Priya are enrolled in school in Chennai - The Jessie Moses Matriculation High School. They will start there within a week of their arrival on June 16th. For now, though, they are throwing themselves into life here with abandon.