Eid ul Adha.

Happy Eid!
We just came back from Eid gah, and now we are going to Abudhabi to visit friends and relatives. See you all after that.

Swimming pool.

I took Aisha to the swimming pool today, and I promise I'll never take her again! She wanted to go to the middle of the pool, which was very deep and I was afraid to leave her, although she had air filled tubes attached to her. I caught hold of her tightly and she struggled to get free. It was a water-fight rather than a swimming session! I immersed her in water 2 to 3 times. I expected her to be afraid of completely going down in water, but she enjoyed it. Why are kids these days afraid of nothing? Trying to grab her with all my strength, I got exhausted and my muscles started aching. She did not want to return from the pool, and I dragged her out of the pool. She was kicking and beating me all the way home.

Swim suit.

Aisha's cousin, Aisha and myself in the pool.

Farewell party.

Aisha's Dad got a new offer and so he resigned from the old job. Aisha new most of his colleagues and their families. She will surely miss them, and those small gatherings we often had. Today was our last party with our friends. Our farewell party.

Gifts for Aisha.

Partying.

Speaking in English.

I don't know how, but Aisha has got the notion that to speak in English one should add an 's' at the end of the words. And to speak in Malayalam, she adds the plural sound used in malayalam -kal. It goes like this:

"Ente kalippattams evide?" (Where are my toys?) 

or

"Aa boys-ukale nokkku!" (Look at the boys!)

On the toy-phone, she says something nobody understands, and when asked what she was she talking, the quick reply comes, "I was talking in English!" Well, she adds some words like come, play, sit stand etc in between the lines.

Onam.

The festival of Malayalees, Onam, is also a festival in UAE, especially for the department stores that make everything a consumer product. This time there were flower carpets, big and small, in most places. The ona sadhya (feast) is served in banana leaves, and Aisha wanted one leaf when she saw stacks of it in the store. So we

A small flower carpet.

too decided to cook a sadhya for Onam. Sadhya is a pure vegetarian meal with lots of side dishes along with rice. We flipped through cook-books, browsed the cookery sites and asked our parents for suggestions of experiences. Shopping for the banana leaves and vegetables was the next step. We bought six leaves for everyone of us, and Aisha and her cousin divided it themselves from the store.
Eating on a banana leaf was new to Aisha. It is a common practice in Kerala to serve on banana leaves. The senior citizens still believe that food tastes better when served on banana leaves. Aisha was impatient for having to wait for so long to eat on a banana leaf. We prepared dinner so that everyone can join in for it. But Aisha and her cousin couldn't wait to be served on leaf and so they had their dinner earlier, before Dad reached home.

Poems.

Some poems recited by Aisha. Now-a-days its been difficult to record her audios or videos because she wants to be the one behind the camera. This audios were recorded with great effort.

A malayalam poem.

The first stanza of the song 'I am a barbie girl.'

First stanza of the Arabic song 'Shakhbit shakhabit.'

Sleep Time Prayers.

Beach.

Aisha was afraid of beaches the last time we took her to a beach. But that was during the night, when we could hear only the roaring of the sea. This time, she enjoyed most of it. She got drowned once when she fell flat into the water. A wave pushed her down, she was immersed in water from head to toe. But she was never frightened. She was excited to play in the water and she wanted to go deep into the sea. In the end, we had to drag her into the car to go home.

A for Aisha.

Aisha's first As. She is left handed too!

Enjoying outdoor.

A drop in temperature brought a change in entertainment activities in Dubai. People are seen often in open-air areas. We went over to a near by park to celebrate the climate change.