Quick trip

The boy and wife have been in Chennai for the past 2 weeks. With the cases rising, KA had announced a probable lockdown starting April. I quickly drove to Chennai and we all came back.

Book shopping

A quick visit to Blossoms in the evening to return some of the old books. With the coupons (from the old books), the boy purchased a bunch of The Bad Guys Series (by Aaron Blabey). This was followed by dinner at The Pizza Bakery. We passed it while walking back and it was hard to wean the boy away from it.

Birthday party at Slurp

The boy and his friends had a great time making pizza.

The people running the place are friendly and the children enjoyed their time here. We had been here earlier as well. I also chatted up with the owners about how the pandemic had impacted them. Tough times.

Bells Palsy

My mother came down with Bells Palsy. This required 15 days of morning physiotherapy at the nearby hospital. I decided to stay with her.

The boy was not happy with me gone. Eventually he and the wife joined me for a week and anyway, his classes were online. There were bursts of tantrums - he did not have friends, the TV at my mother's place did not have all the channels, no Amazon Prime but he mostly managed. My mother fret, asking me to buy him something to keep him happy. I would not have, instead opting for the boy to get comfortable with being bored, but had to give in.

Breakfast get-together

Some of the families in the apartment went for a breakfast at Prestige Golfshire.

It was good to be out and for a change, not to make and eat your own breakfast. We ate leisurely, chatted, the children after eating their fill, ran around and had fun. Thankfully when it comes to wearing masks and maintaining social distancing we are all on the same wavelength, including the children.

Get Togethers and Republic Day

It was time for get togethers. Since last March, all the meetings have been virtual. With the slow unlocking and apartments relaxing rules, we decided to meet with the wife's extended family who lived 20 minutes away last weekend. Wonderful dinner, lot of talking while the boy watched his favorite Just Add Magic. All grown ups and nobody in his age group to play with.

I watched my cousin's wedding being streamed live. Because of Covid and my back problem, I did not want to risk driving to Kerala to attend it in person.

It was Republic Day and there were events in the apartment with masks and social distancing. The boy participated in some games and was thrilled he won. After that we went with the ABAA family for lunch at nearby Wanderers.

The boy in action (in green)

It was then time to drive all the way across town to meet the wife's cousin and her 5 month old daughter at Alchemy Coffee Roasters. The boy was not interested in babies. The coffee was good. We chatted, dropped them home and drove back.

Lunch visit and a Dog

Pongal is a harvest festival in Tamilnadu and when a Tambrahm family invites you for lunch, you are in for a feast. So off we went to Whitefield for a sumptuous lunch. We are meeting with the VVS family after ages and the boy quickly warmed upto S (exactly 1 year older than the boy). Post lunch, The Croods was playing and the boy was reluctant to leave till it got over. Once that and after an awesome filter coffee we bid farewell.

The next day, A (of the AA couple) dropped in after lunch, we had to drop her back home and the boy also tagged along. The AA couple is one of the boy's favorite. They had adopted a dog - a cute Terrier Mix. The boy does not hate or love dogs. He gets along with them as long as they don't lick him. He did not go inside their home, reluctantly petted her at the door and off we came back. Miss those days before the pandemic when we had the impromptu get togethers.