The lil grand daughter from London
Natalie is all of three and has come to holiday in Bangalore. She has the cutest accent ever, posh and Brit as she lives in London. We enjoy the most quaint little things that she says like -- “ Daddy is feeling poorly!” with concern in her little voice. The first time we heard it, she ran around the house telling everyone about her beloved Daddy.
Very correct in all that she does, even when taking pictures, she says ‘cheese’ before anyone can snap her. I think this generation is sick of pictures so she hardly smiles when pictures are taken.
She is no trouble when it comes to her food and quite enjoys eating Indian, as long as it’s not too spicy. Rice and Dal and chicken, especially if it’s a drumstick, it is polished off till the last bite. But we were all surprised when she asked for spaghetti the other day and all I had was Maggi noodles. So I made her some using only half the pack of taste giver. And she sat and polished the platter clean! Kids for some reason love Maggi Noodles.
She loves going for walks in the garden and so when she visits I take her to pick Bimblis and tamarind. Most excitedly she picks the fallen tamarind and wants to take it home to show her other Grandma.What I find amusing is she loves to eat the sour fruit and takes a chomp quite happily scrunching up her face, but not giving up!
“ Lets jump up and down in muddy puddles!” she says imitating her favourite TV serial Peppa pig when she sees a puddle of water left by the maali watering the garden. I immediately say no, but she is quick to say in her crisp Brit accent --” Let’s pretend jump Gma!” And then like two goofy ganders we are jumping up and down on the cobbles!
We walk around admiring the flowers and she helps to pour the water collected in the bucket from the drip in the garden. Today with the spectre of drought looming large in Bangalore, the drip collects to fill the bucket and she happily helps to pour the water to the plants close by like the torch ginger and the heliconias. We put the bucket back for it to fill up again over- night.
We come back to the house and wash a big bunch of grapes for her to enjoy. Natalie loves any colour grape and the yellowish green ones she enjoys the best from off the carts across the city. She sits crunching on them and we let her watch a few of the Peppa Pig series. How happy her lil girl heart gets when we let her watch her beloved Peppa and Madame Gazelle.
Frankly Peppa is very educative compared to the Disney cartoons the boys watched as they grew. Till today my second son Andrew who is a cardiologist will say” Easy come! Easy go!” Imitating one of the characters when out shopping! They also learned a lot of the classical music tunes which were the sound track of the cartoons. Peppa Pig on the other hand has one common tune for the the entire series.
Little girls also love to be pretend beauticians and so I have to give her my big bottle of moisturizer which she lathers on my arms and legs with an indulgent hand. “ G’nama has a very big owie,” she says with deep concern seeing the unsightly gash down my leg which has healed badly. I was hurt by a scooter climbing the pavement and gashing my lower leg with the stand of his khatara scooter. She is very upset by the look of it and puts an extra indulgent layer on the long and dark gash line.
“ Does the owie hurt G’nama?” she asks concern in her big dark eyes. And I lap it up saying it does when it has healed three months ago, just so she rubs down my leg for another 15 minutes.
Then I am told to lie down as I am sick and my hair is combed with the most delicate butterfly strokes. Considering I have been losing my hair to diabetes, I don’t let anyone touch my hair, but now its wonderful with her delicate little girl strokes with the brush.
Very correct in all that she does, even when taking pictures, she says ‘cheese’ before anyone can snap her. I think this generation is sick of pictures so she hardly smiles when pictures are taken.
She is no trouble when it comes to her food and quite enjoys eating Indian, as long as it’s not too spicy. Rice and Dal and chicken, especially if it’s a drumstick, it is polished off till the last bite. But we were all surprised when she asked for spaghetti the other day and all I had was Maggi noodles. So I made her some using only half the pack of taste giver. And she sat and polished the platter clean! Kids for some reason love Maggi Noodles.
She loves going for walks in the garden and so when she visits I take her to pick Bimblis and tamarind. Most excitedly she picks the fallen tamarind and wants to take it home to show her other Grandma.What I find amusing is she loves to eat the sour fruit and takes a chomp quite happily scrunching up her face, but not giving up!
“ Lets jump up and down in muddy puddles!” she says imitating her favourite TV serial Peppa pig when she sees a puddle of water left by the maali watering the garden. I immediately say no, but she is quick to say in her crisp Brit accent --” Let’s pretend jump Gma!” And then like two goofy ganders we are jumping up and down on the cobbles!
We walk around admiring the flowers and she helps to pour the water collected in the bucket from the drip in the garden. Today with the spectre of drought looming large in Bangalore, the drip collects to fill the bucket and she happily helps to pour the water to the plants close by like the torch ginger and the heliconias. We put the bucket back for it to fill up again over- night.
We come back to the house and wash a big bunch of grapes for her to enjoy. Natalie loves any colour grape and the yellowish green ones she enjoys the best from off the carts across the city. She sits crunching on them and we let her watch a few of the Peppa Pig series. How happy her lil girl heart gets when we let her watch her beloved Peppa and Madame Gazelle.
Frankly Peppa is very educative compared to the Disney cartoons the boys watched as they grew. Till today my second son Andrew who is a cardiologist will say” Easy come! Easy go!” Imitating one of the characters when out shopping! They also learned a lot of the classical music tunes which were the sound track of the cartoons. Peppa Pig on the other hand has one common tune for the the entire series.
Little girls also love to be pretend beauticians and so I have to give her my big bottle of moisturizer which she lathers on my arms and legs with an indulgent hand. “ G’nama has a very big owie,” she says with deep concern seeing the unsightly gash down my leg which has healed badly. I was hurt by a scooter climbing the pavement and gashing my lower leg with the stand of his khatara scooter. She is very upset by the look of it and puts an extra indulgent layer on the long and dark gash line.
“ Does the owie hurt G’nama?” she asks concern in her big dark eyes. And I lap it up saying it does when it has healed three months ago, just so she rubs down my leg for another 15 minutes.
Then I am told to lie down as I am sick and my hair is combed with the most delicate butterfly strokes. Considering I have been losing my hair to diabetes, I don’t let anyone touch my hair, but now its wonderful with her delicate little girl strokes with the brush.
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