Valley Chai

my 3-yr old twin boys barely notice the transition. but i think their lifestyle has changed significantly, and do believe their trajectory is going to be profoundly different.

in the bay area, they used to have a quite an opportunity for playtime. we had a townhome right across the street from the dixon landing park in milpitas. when the weather is right, we’d let them run across the street and into the little pee-wee soccer field and the play area. there is no such luxury here in bangalore. they pretty much play on their tricycles around a 20-yard walkway within the apartment block. the manager of the block threw in a merry-go-round, a swing and a small pommel horse, but they get ‘used up’ very very quickly.. know what i mean?

the new mommies and the new grand parents used to escort the kids to the play area in the park, and gup-shup with each other while the kids played. the routine probably lasts about an hour, mainly because the weather is just right only for that long. here they do pretty much the same, except the maids monitor the kids and the mosquitoes dictate how long you stay out in the open in the evening. at other times, they run around the apartment with their toys - i am thankfully able to afford a nice large apartment, so this is a huge upgrade from my 3-level townhome.

the tv-watching routine is pretty much unchanged. they get to see the same ‘micky mouse clubhouse’ here - it comes on the disney channel on saturdays at 9 am. probably on weekdays too, but they are in their playschool most of the day time. we brought some dvd’s with us like the ‘max and ruby’, ‘mickey mouse clubhouse’, ‘winnie the pooh’, ‘dora the explorer’, and ‘diego the animal rescuer’. they still watch them, and so they never got hooked into other tv series. by the way, the cartoon network and other kids’ channels are full of dubbed (hindi, regional languages) american animated shows.

they go to the school called ‘your kids r our kids’ from 9 am to 3:30 pm. though pricey (Rs.4,500 per month) it is pretty much as good, if not better, than their montessori school in milpitas. the levels of teaching and learning are pretty much the same, nothing to complain or praise there. the teacher-student ratio is much better (about 1:6 or so) and a nice difference is that we don’t have to prepare their meals every day. the school supplies good good and even has a full-time nutritionist on staff.

the quality of toys is horrendous in bangalore. i blogged about the ‘kids kemp fort’ earlier.. it’s bad. spar supermarket has some good kits, which are pretty much similar to what you’d get in toy r us. it’s nice to NOT see the risque-dressed barbies that greet you in toys r us. the toys are cheap flimsy knockoffs, break quickly and generally not ‘fun-enough’. do not rely on any plastic-based kid-product here. sheer waste of money and effort.

we brought a big box of cheerios when we moved (costco-style, you know what i am sayin’?), we’ll see what we’ll do after it runs out. but thanks to the playplace, they eat by themselves now. we feed them much less mac-and-cheese and much more of ‘regular’ desi food. they also eat more fruit now, why not.. they are more delicious here (may be they actually do ripen while still on the trees here!).

but it’s gratifying to see them play with their cousin sister much often, and develop a relationship with my brother’s/sister’s and wife’s sister’s family. there were familiar with them before, but they developed a relationship with them after we returned.

may be the same could be said of me too!