Summer time outings and friends

S has made a 'summer friend ' N (my cousin's son who is a year and a half older to S) and she's really enjoyed the summer holidays (rather my maternity leave) here in Bangalore since we've managed to go on many outings together.
The first outing was to National Gallery of Modern Art. Yes, sounds funny to take 2 and 4 year old kids to a Gallery right, but they had fun. Firstly the NGMA in Bangalore is a huge sprawling place with a large garden, waterfall, beautiful trees and lots of space for kids to run around in. The actual looking at the pictures did not last more than half an hour (we were lucky to get that much time from the kids) before they asked to be let loose outside. S kept calling it office, since she's never been to a museum before, and refused to look at any of the paintings. N was slightly better and his mom could get him slightly interested in the pictures of animals. The gallery had a showing from the Victoria and Albert, London and there was a whole section devoted to English artists rendering of India in the 1700-1900s. Beautiful. Can't imagine how some of the places used to look earlier-Breach Candy seems to be an isolated fishing village. And the mood of the times also has been captured in the paintings, many of which show people going about their daily work. It covers most parts of India as well, from Kashmir to the South. I wonder whether any museum in India has such a vast collection of paintings of this period. Have not been to the NGMA in Mumbai, but will definetly give it a look now. We wanted to try out the cafe, but it had only snacks so went to Opus, a nearby restaurant for lunch. Its more of a lounge bar than a restaurant and was empty except for us in the afternoon (we checked it on a Saturday night a week later and it was packed with a cover charge of Rs 500/ per person!). Anyway we were happy to have the place to ourselves, and after S and N gorged themselves on french fries (managed to get S to eat some dal rice i was carrying as well) they started running around the place and jumping on the bean bags sprawled there. We could manage a leisurely lunch with them occupied for a change!

The next was to Bannerghatta National Park. Its about an hours drive from my place ; my cousin stays close by, and her cousin with two kids also came along so there were four elder kids and one infant (my cousin's second son who is 10 months). We started with the jungle safari where you sit in a bus and they take you into the animal enclosures where the animals are free. I was a bit apprehensive as there had been an incident some years back when a tiger had attacked the bus and killed a child. But before coming to the park i read many of the user reviews and they said that the park had taken many precautions after the incident and it was pretty safe. There was a grill around the bus, and morning time was after the feeding of the animals, so decided to go with S and the other. It was good fun- the whole trip was about 45 mins, and the bus ride was bumpy and a new experience for S. We saw some deer, samba, some bears on the road, a couple of lions and some white and yellow tigers. The tigers were inside fences so they could not come near the bus (probably a safety precaution)- think they are probably more ferocious than lions. In all we did not manage to see many animals, but each one that we saw, had the whle bus full of people standing up and shouting so overall the excitement level for the kids was quite high. The only one who was not so excited was the 10 month old who happily sat in his mom's lap chomping on a banana. The bus was not an AC bus and it was quite dusty so we were quite tired by the time the ride finished. The next stop was to the zoo. We first saw a white peacock, it had spread its tail and looked really pretty. Then onto the parrots and birds. We tried to spot the cobra in the enclosure but could not find it. The aquarium was below expectations, they had quite a few fish, but the whole area was badly lit and not well kept. Some of the tanks were empty also which made it look like a half hearted attempt. We then managed to see a leapord sleeping on a rock, and then the highlight of the trip a zebra. The zebra was in huge field with a fence- it came running towards us and butted its head on the fence and neighed loudly. The kids found it totally exciting and S still talks about it! We also saw a family of elephants. We were too tired by then to proceed onto the rhino enclosure - S insisted on being carried and threw a crying fit when i refused. I then had to carry her all the way back to the entrance in the sweltering heat so was exhausted by the time we got to our lunch place. The other kids were older and did not fuss as much. Think we need to take a stroller with us for S for the US trip. Or maybe she can use A's stroller and we can carry A. Lunch was at a place called Jungle Lodge which is within the Bannerghatta National Park. Its a boarding lodge which organises day/two day trips into the park, and also doubles up as a restaurant for people visiting the park. We had the buffet which while not anything great, sufficed as we were ravneous after the long walk through the zoo. I desperately wanted Thums Up with my lunch- can understand how these drinks sell well in the hot weather but they had only Coke, surpising since Thums Up is now the main brand for the group in India. Nothing like a cold Thums Up on a hot day, especially with spicy Indian food! I was quite impressed with my cousin's cousin's daughter who went to the buffet table by herself and chose rasam rice and lots of fruits and ate it by herself with no coercion from her mother. She's 8, but i don;t think at that age I would have chosen such a healthy combination. S and N were refreshed after the lunch and spent ten minutes running all around the place, quite forgetting that they had been cranky and sleepy some time back.

The next outing was to Lalbagh. My cousin got both her kids- N and her younger one who is 10 months along, and I took S. We selected a beautiful big tree under which we spread the chattai for our picnic. N and S stuffed themselves with cupcakes- actually S has never eaten a cupcake by herself before but after seeing N enjoying it she asked for it and ate it with relish! Then we tried to get them both to play football but N refused to kick the ball to S so they played football with their individual balls. Then S was interested in generally running around the place and looking at the butterflies- there were hundreds of butterflies in the nearby tree (unbelievable!), while N wanted to climb trees. Then we had to feed the brats their lunch- i have started carrying S rasam rice for all lunch outings as she doesn't eat much else, and then we gorged on our lunch- a lovely picnic lunch of poori bhaji and curd rice - its really been ages since i went on a picnic, and S also enjoyed it. The trees in Lalbagh are amazing- they are huge giving a lot of shade and oppportunities for many picnic spots. We didn't get to go around Lalbagh (which is very big), will explore during the next picnic opportunity.

Then we had our outing to Cubbon Park. We wanted to take the kids on the toy train, but when we reached there we were told that the train was under repair. Since the whole gang had set out on such a long journey we decided to hang around the park for some time before heading back. The kids played in the park for some time, but it was very hot (we reached only around 1:30 since the toy train timings are in the afternoon) so we soon retreated to the canteen where I fed S her lunch, and then N and S ate ice creams (first time S is eating from a cone, she saw N eating it and decided it was too tempting) and when we returned to the park entrance we found that the toy train was operational. The queue was long, but the kids had fun on the train. S now everyday mentions that she went on 'Azul' the train ('Azul the train is actually from Dora but S relates well to that), and the other day when we met N again, he was also talking about the train. The kids got balloons for their good behavious- i didn't realise that it was a helium balloon when i handed it over to S, she promptly let it go and it flew away! S slept soundly in the car on the way back- she was quite tired after the running around in the heat, and she's used to her afternoon nap.
This being the last week, we went over to N's place for a farewell lunch- they have a lovely garden where the kids kept generally running around, cycling, playing with twigs, climbing trees (S refused to though!) eating banana chips from the table, drinking mango juice and generally having a ball.
S had a great time here...now back to Bombay where its back to school and cramped appartments for her, and back to office for me. But we still have the US Holiday where S will get to meet her cousins and aunts and uncles.