Entering T 3...one step closer to D-Day

With just 12 weeks to go, sometimes its hard to keep the emotions under check. There is a mix of everything from anxiousness to excitement. Thank God I have S around to calm me down and walk me through things every time I get jumpy.

We are trying to prepare the house for the long list of visitors who are going to stay with us for the next six months. The days seem to be passing by fast suddenly. We did try to do some window shopping for the baby, but quickly gave up. I think its best we do that with the parents, since we are both quite lost of what is really a must have and what just is a waste of space.

I have been getting so much info from so many friends and relatives. I feel really happy to have such a great support system around me. Even if I dont feel like I need to follow everything, its good to know there are people I can turn to.

A lot of people have asked me if I would like to have a natural delivery or a C-section. Honestly, I dont think its a question of preference at all. I think its best to let the doctor dictate what would be needed depending on the situation. Speaking to a few friends, I have also realised that you may have to switch from natural to c-sec half way thru labour also. Nearly all the websites I am subscribing to for pregnancy info also asked me if I was worried about labour.

I wonder if its strange that I havent been very worried about many things.

I was told by websites that I need to count baby movements and kicks, but my doctor did not tell me to do that. So I havent actually been counting.

I did not sign up for any antenatal classes, cos there wasnt any I could find here. But I did read up and talk to my friends who went for them. I managed to go attend a forum on breastfeeding babies, which was quite informative.

Different people told me to start supplements for different things ranging from Omega 3 to DHA for the baby. But I really am against taking any pills my doctor hasnt prescribed. I m hundred percent sure that my mom did not take any of these fancy pills and managed to have me and my brother. Our brains grew just fine.

I have totally left the post delivery things to my mom in law's capable hands. I decided I will jus follow wat she tells me to do as far as baby care is concerned.

A lot of the elders voiced concerns about my swimming during pregnancy, but since my doctor seems to be ok with it, I guess its not doing any harm. Of course the thing that gets Sumit all worked up is when I suddenly get up and start dancing to some song that comes on tv.

Oh ya..bending. That has been a big point of debate. While a lot of people kept telling me not to bend or lift things. My mom has been encouraging me to bend and get up and do housework. She feels it will aid with the delivery. I guess as a dancer I have one advantage; I dont bend from the waist even normally. I usually jus go into 'muzhumandi' or full squat position automatically.

Most Indians will tell you to avoid pineapple and papaya during pregnancy. My in-laws also avoid bananas. But I couldnt do that, I needed the banana for the constipation. In fact, my doc said I cud eat pineapple and papaya also if I wanted, but I really dont like them, so it din matter.

I am really glad I havent had much cravings through my pregnancy. I think Sumit is more happy that he wasnt woken up in the middle of the night and made to run around. I have actually been able to pass the chocolate and eat fruits (ok just the regular everyday chocolates, I did get a box of French handmade chocolates which I couldnt pass up). My appetite has actually gone down, because of the summer heat.

I noticed that if I started singing, my baby kicks me. I am not sure if he is saying "Shut up I am trying to sleep" or "Go ahead sing more" (pretty sure its the first, or it may be sheer coincidence).

I guess enough of my pregnancy talk. I should go to bed and rest my swollen feet now.

Movie Marathon Months-- Updated

Somehow a lot of good movies…movies I want to watch are being released June and July. While I love going to the movies, I do feel a little guilty about doing it so often when I am unemployed and sitting at home. Anyways that said, it did not actually stop me from going.

Hangover II - 1.5/5 (Give it a miss, go watch something else)

I wasn’t really dying to go for this, but then hubby said that it was doing well. Hmmmm, not sure how, cos it was bad. I think the first movie worked cos it was novel and drastic. Walking in to see a tiger in the toilet…that is funny! Licking a guy’s broken finger, is jus disgusting. The movie was needy just like one of the protagonists and in places plain insulting. Not my taste. Anyways I am not gonna write much cos I have forgotten most of it already.

To spoil the movie more, two burka clad girls walked in super late and then insisted that everyone in the row get up so they could move to the corner seats. Before I could even realise wat was happening, some guys from the back started shouting at us to get up and let them in. And people say that Singaporeans are incourteous!!

X Men: First Class - 3.75/5

I absolutely loved this movie. Loved. It. More than the movie, I thought Michael Fassbender was pure eye candy. Even if you have not watched a single X Men movie, you will be able to follow this. At the same time, for the diehard X Men fan (me!) it was still entertaining. Its kinda hard to believe that there was a time Magneto couldn’t control his power. The thing that did not sit well with me was how everyone needed help to sharpen and control their powers…except Prof. X, who seemed to come pre-honed. I liked that not too many mutants were introduced, unlike the first two movies, where so many were shown but not built on. I was surprised that Beast who built the cerebro was not even mentioned in the previous movies. In fact the impression was that it was built by Charles and Magneto. Overall it wasn’t very noisy and with too much going on, but at the same time kept a good pace so you don’t feel its dragging. Definitely worth a watch!

Kung Fu Panda 2 - 4.25/5

AWESOME! There is something about cartoons and Jackie Chan movies where even if the story seems along the same lines, you still don’t watching it for the action and comedy. There were times when the backdrop would look so real, you tend to forget that this is animation. But it makes the 3D totally worth it. I loved the character of peacock! The use of the peacock’s feathers the way a fan is used in kung fu was amazing. It was funny how the goat kept going for the silk robe. The concept and importance of inner peace may have been a little profound for the little ones, but very well portrayed. Somehow even X men dealt with the same theme of inner peace and how it was important to be able to channel ones energy.

Cars 2 - 3.5/5

I read a lot of poor reviews about this movie. But since I really liked the first CARS movie, I wasn’t gonna miss this. Okay, the movie mixes a lot of things, from James Bond to F1 races. Storywise, there isn’t much link with the previous film. As much as I liked the movie as a good watch I think the movie was for the young at heart rather than the young. The story is complicated, maybe a little more than a kid can understand. The focus is more on Mater than Lightening McQueen. There was a lot of ‘killing’ of cars which I did not really think was needed. Its hard to understand the long winded moral of the story which is don’t judge a person (or Car in this case) by how he behaves or looks or talks.

Delhi Belly -4/5

The story isn’t complicated to understand, its not a new original script, its not some artsy fartsy (well maybe just fartsy) movie. Its not a movie that everyone will enjoy. Maybe don’t take your parents or children to this one. If you are the sort who likes to eat popcorn during a movie, maybe you want to wait for the first 30-45 mins of the movie to pass first. I am not a fan of toilet humour at all! That was a huge put off for me.

But that said, I did enjoy the movie. The movie is about mix ups, misunderstandings, coincidences and such. It’s really hilarious when it gets going and outright unbelievable at time. It felt like a lengthy sitcom, well paced and witty.

However the movie goes, whether you laughed or cringed, you will love the last song of the movie. Aamir Khan does a ‘Mithun’ spoof. Great way to end the movie.

Transformers: Dark of the Moon - 2.5/5

I love Transformers, that is why I went for this movie against the advice I was given. I liked the first two movies, they were loud, lot of action, a lot of transforming.

The background story of Sam Witwicky’s life was also not a drag to watch in the previous movies. There was too much unnecessary stupid things going on. There was NO NEED to bring the parents at all. There were so many unnecessary characters brought in for no reason.

I know every movie has a damsel in distress with the ‘oh please save me’ look and her boobs sticking out. I still felt at least Megan Fox redeemed herself with a little of the tough girl act. Girl could drive and fix cars atleast. Rosie Huntington-Whiteley was there only to show her legs and what not. The stupid ‘motivational’ speech she gave to Megatron…yucks! I just couldn’t take it I duno how Megatron did. She really seemed very out of place in the movie for most part.

McDreamy cannot be evil. NO I will not accept that! Come on, how could you do that. In the beginning he said he was forced to do the bidding of the Decipticons, but why did he continue to hang around and help even when they were getting defeated?

The major action was limited to the last 20-30 minutes of a painful 2 and half hour movie. It was good action, but I wanted more. It’s a transformer movie, you watch it for the action not the story!!

Movies yet to be watched

Harry Potter 8

Budha Hoga Tera Baap

Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara

(My mom is not gonna be happy with me watching so many movies!)

First Incident Report

So in continuation with the passport fiasco:

Friday morning was a mad rush. First to the airport then in search of a police station to lodge a complaint. Abu Dhabi becomes ghost town on friday mornings. There is hardly anyone on the streets, almost nothing is open. Including the police station apparently! They refused to file an FIR in the police station we went to and told us to come back on sunday.

Saturday Sumit spoke to his company PR officer (person who helps with local administrative process) and he advised that rather than go to the police, it was better to go straight to the immigration office.

Sunday at the immigration office, Sumit was told he couldnt file a report for missing passport in Abu Dhabi as his visa was from Dubai, so he had to go there. He went to the taxi company's office hoping to identify the cab driver and maybe calling. The good thing was we had had a lady driver, and there are only few of those here.

Monday Sumit was back in immigration office with his PRO to try to atleast file the FIR. Again there were told to go to Dubai. When asked what will happen if in Dubai they do not accept, since we reside in Abu Dhabi and the passport was lost here, the simple reply was, 'we will send you back to them'.

By this point we were quite frustrated. It had been 4 days and so far we hadnt gotten anywhere, not even an FIR. We had been calling the airport daily to check on any updates. Every morning our conversations started with a recap of what had happened at the airport that day. Speculating on potential scenarios. Should we go to the Indian Embassy straight? should we go to Dubai and try?

August is start of start of the fasting month, nearly all work comes to a stand still. Sumit's visa was expiring, and we were gonna do the renewal this month. Usually visa renewal required a visit out of the country, so we did not want to delay that, since I wouldnt be able to travel very soon. We needed to apply for Sumit's parents visa after his renewal, so that they were able to be here for my delivery. So we needed to start the passport process real soon.

As we were heading to bed, close to midnight, we got a call from the airport police saying that they found his passport. We ran out of the house like crazy, even before the call ended. I dont think too many people run around the airport if they are not flying out or in.

Funny incident of the day:

The Pakistani taxi driver found it amusing that I was pregnant, we had no luggage, we seemed to have ran down the road at midnight and were rushing to the airport. He couldnt contain himself, he asked us with a very serious look 'aap bhag ke shaadi kar rahe ho kya?' (are you running away and getting married?)!!!!

I made a BooBoo

I am an extremely paranoid traveler. I dont like carrying passport in hand. I check for it every 5 minutes. I have a passport pouch which is bulky, so that if I drop it I will know. Any left over currency from a trip I save it in the pouch, for use during emergencies, like I lose my wallet.

A long time ago, my entire family was traveling back to Chennai from Kumbakonam (my paternal village) after my brother's Andinarave (1st birthday). We took two autos from the station to our home. Some confusion ensued over the payment and stuff, 2 suitcases were left behind in one of the auto. The 2 suitcases just so happened to have all the gold jewellary. Some my mom's and some my aunt's and also cash, all the expensive silk saris they had bought or were gifted, you get the picture. All in all it was a very expensive mistake! After a month of running from one police station to another, tracking the other auto driver etc, we finally recovered partially what we lost.

Then the following year, my cousin sisters were coming to Mumbai to visit us. They did the exact same thing, and were left without any clothes for their one month trip.

My mom was returning to Singapore and my little cousin was 5-6 years of age and wanted to go to the washroom, so mom requested the airport staff in India to let her take my cousin in. She gave her passport and ticket my aunt who was waiting outside and went in. (This is a long ago, when security wasnt so strict). She came back to the gate and handed my cousin back to my aunt, said her goodbyes and went back. Without her passport and ticket. It took her a while to realise it too. These were the days when mobiles were not there either. So mom started panicking. She did not know how to contact them in time for the flight. Luck had it that my uncle had discovered the passport by the time they reached the car park and was rushing back.

I lost my wallet at least once a year. Either I dropped it by mistake or it got stolen from my bag in school (yes, that happened few times). There was a couple of times I was getting down from the bus and dropped my wallet. It used to be soo frustrating,even though back then I did not have any credit cards and not that I carried much cash. But as a student I was always broke, so it used to really pinch losing my wallet so much.

My brother did not want to be left behind, last year on his way to Abu Dhabi from India, he happily forgot his PIO card at home. He assumed since he had a Singapore passport it was alright. Of course it wasnt, and my poor uncle had to drive across Chennai in a mad rush, he even got caught by the police, to reach the airport in time to hand over the card. That seems to be the only 'booboo' story of my brother that I remember.

While my dad (like Sumit) claims he never loses things, just misplaces them. Always only remembering at the last moment that he has. I know the number of good watches my dad has forgotten in hotels and country clubs. Last year, he left his wallet in the flight, along with a bottle of Chivas that he bought inflight.

I often say that my dad and Sumit have many things in common. After yday's luggage confusion, seems like Sumit also managed to lose his passport. I distinctly recall him showing it to the guard when he went to return the luggage. Somehow this morning we couldnt find it anywhere at home. He is quite forgetful, even I agree, but he hasnt lost much things in his life (or so he claims). There is always a first, especially for 'BooBoo' stories.