June: Desert Summer in Dubai

Hi All!

While you would think we would be right on time with our June blog having been around in Dubai for the whole month, it has been  crazy busy for me, Mumma, and Da-da so we're late on our entry! We have lots to tell you about so get ready...

We spent the month of June living like locals vs extended tourists.  What were the implications on our activities, you ask? (By the way, I know you're amazed by my rapidly expanding vocabulary :) )! Instead of fine dining experiences every weekend which was their priority over prior months, Mumma and Da-da had one and often 2 movie dates per weekend in June!  We also had some great family time together over the weekends since Mumma and Da-Da were stretched even more thin with work being pretty intense pre-Ramadan.  This included early Sat morning swimming dates in our building pool and/or trips to Al Safa Park.  And finally, the June Summer Surprises (the second of the two sales periods in a year) took place so we spent ample time at the malls!

June was also a big month for celebrations.  My friend Vivaan turned 4 so Payal Aunty and Jay Uncle (Da-da's friend from BCG) threw him a party that Mumma and I went to since Da-da was in Berlin that week for work training.  We took the water taxi to Favorite Things in Dubai Marina Mall which may be my "favorite" place with the rocking chairs, sandpit, piano and play gym for babies!  I loved it so much that I think I will have my 1st bday party there too a few weeks after my actual bday, post-Ramadan, in August!  Also, I think Mumma is convinced I will be a future musician after my debut on the baby piano there which I LOVED!

The second weekend in June, Shweta Aunty (Mumma's closest and very pregnant friend from General Mills MENAT) had a surprise baby shower!  While Mumma was planning on going alone, I refused to let her go without me, so I was able to join her at the shower! I had so much fun with all these nice ladies celebrating the arrival of my friend in Shweta Aunty's belly.  Meanwhile, JK Dada (Da-da's Masa) was also in town from the UK for a night so I got to meet him as well.  While I was worn out from the shower, Mumma and Da-da spent the evening over beers and pizza with him which they enjoyed!

The last week of June was tough because Da-da was in Saudi for the first half of the week like usual and Mumma left the second half of the week for work in India when Daddy returned!  While Mumma had a great trip working with her colleagues in the Powai office and spending the limited free time she had with Nana, Nani, Raina Mashi and my Didis who are visiting India for their summer vacation, she was miserable leaving me.  And this time, I was really sad to say bye to her too! I moaned, whined, and wouldn't let go of her when she hugged me goodbye.  Somehow we made it through, though, and I was in great hands with Da-da!  We went to his office, I showed him who was boss, and tried to turn my fruit into lipstick to bring out the inner Diva in me :).

In regards to work, Mumma's commute officially got cut in half this month since General Mills MENAT moved from Jebel Ali to JLT.  She also comes home an hour early because UAE law states that breastfeeding mothers can dedicate an hour of the workday to feeding their baby up to 18 months of age! Lucky us!  Of course, she logs back on after I go to sleep to work but, hey, if I get more time with Mumma, I'm all for this schedule!  She has been working really hard lately and been running back and forth between being there for me and planning a concept development workshop on her Meals initiative with the AMEA regional team, US R&D, and key MENAT marketing folks.  I heard her telling Da-da that the workshop went well and she has some actionable ideas she can move forward on as a result.  She is also in transition to taking over more responsibility around innovation and geographic expansion on Betty Crocker, the largest brand in this region.  While work is becoming more demanding, she is making a concerted effort to ensure it doesn't take her away from spending time with me, so I'm okay with it :) !

Da-da has also continued to have a dynamic work experience here.  His project leader training in Germany at the beginning of the month was inspiring and he applied the learning on his work with his team in Saudi.  He has continued to work really hard at giving the project his all during the week so he can dedicate time to us on the weekend.  When Mumma had to travel for work, he stepped up in Da-da duty and Mumma and I are proud of him for it.  We love him so much!

As for me, boy oh boy am I working hard! Though I still have no teeth at 11 months, I am walking all over the place while holding Mumma, Da-da or Myla's hands.  I stand a ton and use my walker and bouncer as well!  I say Mumma very clearly and very often, sometimes amidst giggles and other times amidst frustration.  I also tilt my head right or left to say I love you, shake my head no to say yes :), and kiss on command, whether asked for a kiss in Gujarati or English!  If I were to describe my personality in 3 words, I'd say I'm affectionate, happy, and expressive!  Even though I'm a baby who can't officially say a lot, I will make my opinion and thoughts known one way or another!!

That's about all I have to say for this month.  Next month is a HUGE month for us!  Firstly, I am celebrating my one-year birthday early with Nani who is visiting the first weekend in July.  Then we are going to Russia, Finland and Sweden for our family holiday where I will have uninterrupted time with my parents (YAY!) as we celebrate my birthday again as well as their 5 year anniversary! Finally, Dada, Dadi, and Chacha are visiting us and celebrating my actual birthday with me in a low-key way since it falls during Ramadan.  It will be so fun!  I will have my official birthday party after Ramadan in mid-August, which will be a 4th celebration for me falling around my birthday according to Indian calendar.  Time to bring on the Birthday Fun!!

May: Mother's Day in the Maldives

Happy Memorial Day, Friends and Family!

We hope you are all spending time today enjoying the kickstart to summer with loved ones as well as remembering those who fought for our country.

On our end, we are working away as the only holidays we have are a few public holidays that often don't get identified until there is a sighting of the moon!  That's okay though because like most countries abroad, we get more vacation days in the UAE than in the US!

We have had yet another busy month full of new experiences!  We started the month off with Mana's 19-year-old cousin brother, Yash, visiting from Mumbai.  He made it clear that his main interest during his visit to Dubai was to smoke shisha.  So with that, we investigated to find the best shisha lounge with a view and took him to Shimmers in front of the Burj Al Arab.  Needless to say, it was the best shisha we have smoked in Dubai!  Between the shisha and a bit of sightseeing over a day and a half, we had a great time together!                                          

Though we were shisha'd out, Mana's friend from business school, Val, was in town for work from Thailand so they met up at Siddhartha Lounge at Grovesner House and caught up on life.  It was the perfect way to unwind during the workweek and wonderful to have a taste of home. She even came over and impressed Myla, our Filipina nanny, with her Tagalog.  Myla was amazed that Mana had Filipina friends in America! Thanks, Val, for helping us score brownie points with our nanny!

We worked away the following week before we headed off to our most anticipated trip of the year: The Maldives!  We had been hoping to visit this magnificent place ever since we got married, but had trouble justifying the distance from the US for the experience.  Finally, we made it happen!

Without a doubt, it was worth the wait!  From the seaplane that landed on the clearest waters we have ever laid our eyes on, to the overwater bungalow experience, this trip could not have been more amazing!

We spent five days indulging in our infiniti pool over the ocean, reading books on the hammock, and spending the most quality time with Naaya as we looked at fishies through the glass floors.  To top it off, Sahil and Naaya were so sweet and bought Mana flowers from the main island to be delivered to Iruveli, the remote island we were on, for her first official Mother's Day!  Between the uninterrupted special time with Naaya and Sahil, pure relaxation, and gorgeous surroundings of the overall holiday, Mana considered it to be the most perfect Mother's Day ever!

The proceeding weekend we had scheduled yet another trip: a visit to Mumbai to see Mana's parents.  We got some really quality time with them.  While we celebrated their 44th anniversary together in person with them, we also celebrated in spirit Sahil's parents anniversary, Sahil's Mom's birthday, and Mother's Day for all 3 moms (including Mana :)).  We celebrated them at Sea Lounge in the Taj Hotel.  Between the extraordinarily tasty food, the gorgeous view, and the perfect ambience with the pianist playing old classics, the five of us had a blast together!  We also learned that Mom and Dad had gone there together on one of their dates early in their marriage so it was perfect that they were returning with their kids and granddaughter! 

We also got to see Sahil's grandmother, Ba, and Naaya was able to spend time with her great grandmother in India for the third time over the last 9 months!  How special! :)

After a whirlwind of a trip to India, we returned only for Mana to get back on a plane a few days later for a work trip to Egypt.  Though it was brutally hard for Mana to be without Naaya overnight for the first time since she was born (Mana cried the whole way to the airport), she had the most rewarding consumer learning experience to date in her professional career.  She spent 4 days in Egyptian homes understanding their needs, struggles, and family environments in ethnographic studies along with the regional team from Singapore and India.  The learning was fascinating and monumental in determining next steps in regards to the direction of her brand strategy work.  During her downtime in Cairo, she also visited the pyramids for a second time (the first being on KWEST with Sahil and some Kellogg friends at the start of business school).

During the time that Mana was away, Sahil had a great few daddy-daughter days with Naaya.  He returned from Saudi one day early so that Naaya did not have a night without one parent at home.  They took full advantage of the day off as they went to the park with our other friends with kids, ate at CPK for lunch, went grocery shopping, and watched videos of Mumma together.  He also had a blast with our friend Ashok, Mana's bschool friend Priya's husband, who was in town.  They went to our friend Ana's birthday party and caught up on the happenings in the Raju world in NY.

Though all three of us only had one day of overlap this past weekend, we took advantage by catching up on our naps at the same time, walking around the Marina together, meeting Sahil's cousin Darpan for milkshakes with his sweet daughter, Priyana.  After a great day together, we put Naaya to bed and capped it off by renting "This is 40" - HILARIOUS movie which we recommend for a night of unwinding! 

On a professional front for Sahil, he has been having a great run between selling work and delivering on the very different needs of clients in this part of the world. He is also adding richness to his work experiences by focusing on the public sector in Saudi.

As for Naaya, she is growing ridiculously fast! Between clapping on verbal demand, being able to stand alone for moments at a time as well as cruise, saying Da-da for the first time at 9.5 months, continuing to say Mumma, shaking her head no-no-no, eating, eating, and more eating, jumping away in her jumper, and pulling her Mom's hair at any chance she can, she is growing into a big girl so fast!  Her face is also constantly evolving.  Lately, our friends have been saying she looks more and more like Mana.  Here's a photo of Mana as a baby with her Mom while being held by her dad.  As you can see, Sahil put the photo next to Naaya's face to compare Naaya and Baby Manku - now you decide and let us know what you think!

We are excited to share that we are finally in Dubai for this upcoming weekend with fun social engagements.  On Thursday, we are going to Left Bank in Madinat to meet Arif and Tina, friends of Mana's childhood friend, Shilpa and her husband Ripu.  On Friday, we will close out our month by attending the 2nd  birthday party of our friends Sumati and Kaustabh's son, Shiven.  We can't wait to experience a CHILL weekend at home followed by the month of June in Dubai during the Shopping Festival part TWO! :)

April: Family Trip To Fujairah

Hi Everyone!

Guess what? Lil' blogger is back in action!  We have had a fun-filled month full of visitors and excitement and I can't wait to tell you about all of our April adventures!  Before we get into April, we rounded out March with Sanjana Foi and Kalpu Dadi (family on Da-da's side) visiting us for a night.  I only saw them briefly since it was my bedtime, but it was great to meet them finally.

The month of April started with a bang when Raina Mashi, Parag Masha, Nysa Didi, and Krisha Didi (family on Mumma's side) came to visit us during their spring break.  We had tons of fun showing them around.  We went to Old Dubai (Bastakiya), Dubai Marina, the Atlantis (well actually I missed that one since it was past my bedtime again), and all four parents went out on the town one night.  We also went on a big road trip adventure to Fujairah, another Emirate famous for diving (which is Masha and Mashi's favorite sport).  We even got to celebrate Nysa Didi's golden birthday (9th birthday on the 9th), though we missed Anar Mashi on her milestone bday. While it was a hectic few days (Raina Mashi even went to India to see Nana and Nani for a day), it was so great to spend time with the Gandhi clan in Dubai!


As the Gandhis left, Chiku Kaka, Da-da's cousin, arrived the next day for a few days.  He overlapped with Aunty Anne (like the pretzels :)) and Uncle Wei-Lin, Da-da's friends from business school, who came to visit us for the weekend on their around-the-world sabbatical.  They all went to Nassimi Beach for dinner and drinks on the Palm Atlantis and I joined them at Pier Chic the next day for lunch at Al Qasr.  The location of this restaurant is absolutely beautiful against the Arabian Gulf overlooking the Burj Al Arab.  That night the Wongs and Mumma and Da-da went to Barasti, a bar on the beach, where they met Tio Edu and Tia Ana as well.  On the last day with the Wongs we went to the JBR Beach in crazy heat (I had to be covered at all times) after which they went to Desert Safari and the three of us rested from entertaining all our visitors for 10 days straight! :)  We had so much fun with everyone that we needed to recover with a night at home!

The last two weekends have been much more low-key.  Mumma and Da-da went to dinner last Thurs with Akshay Uncle and Shailey Aunty (BCG friends) in JBR.  On Friday, Mumma, Da-da, and I went to Dubai Mall to get my crib bumpered up since I'm much more active these days and they were a bit nervous.  I finally got moved to my own room and as a result am sleeping more or less through the night without being disturbed by my party-animal-parents! HOORAY!  We also got swim gear for all three of us since we spent a lot of last weekend swimming laps in our building pool! On Saturday, we all went to Bur Dubai with Shweta Aunty and Vinit Uncle (General Mills friends) and ate at our favorite South Indian hole-in-the-wall restaurant - Venus.  Nana would LOVE the dosas there! :)  We also got our Indian groceries from there so that Myla could make some yummy bhinda and cauliflower shaaks during the week!  

This weekend Mumma and Da-da went out with their friends Ingrid and Nick  (whom Mommy met through Gramps Rob from work) to Indigo by Vineet at the Grovesner House.  It is the first Michelin-rated Indian restaurant they had ever eaten at and Da-da was very impressed!  You all should try it when you're in Dubai if you're into fancy Indian food (personally, I prefer Venus Idlis :)).  On Friday, the three of us headed to Bab Al Shams, a resort in the middle of the desert, 45km outside Dubai, to celebrate my 9-month birthday!  It was a beautiful place and I saw a camel up close (though he was STINKY!), but it was rainy so I couldn't swim for too long in the pools.  We eventually made our way back and today I had my doctor's appt.

According to Dr.Karle, my pediatrician in Dubai, I am doing well and meeting all the right milestones. I crawl, stand, clap, squeal in delight, giggle my head off, scream in excitement, and kiss Mumma and Da-da nonstop.  Oh, and every now and then, I throw my head back to test my boundaries, and then get in trouble so I'm still deciding if it's worth continuing that behavior.  All in all, life is busy but awesome!

Lucky for me, since Mumma's big work change this month has been that General Mills is moving from Jebel Ali to JLT (MUCH closer to our home), they are all currently in temporary offices.  This means Mumma gets to work from home a few days a week which is GREAT for me!  I get milk from the source instead of the bottle. :)  Ain't nothin' better than that!  As far as other work developments for Mumma, all I know is that I hear her from my room, driving projects with the US at night and listen to her when she tells Da-da about the challenges and exciting aspects of her brand positioning strategic projects and consumer research studies.

Da-da's big development is that he is planning on going to Saudi Arabia for work soon!  I heard him weighing his options and discussing it with Mumma, ultimately deciding that it was best for his career to take the opportunity while here.  Mumma is going to make Da-da do some live consumer research in market for her (since she can't go to Saudi very easily as a woman)!  Mumma and I will miss him, but again, it will make our weekends that much more special. 

That's about it for April.  Next month we have some exciting trips planned to the Maldives and to India to see Nani and Nana so stay tuned!