How I entertain my toddler child when travelling

I have had to travel a lot over the last couple of years, since my son turned 3 months old! Hence, I decided to write down a few tips (also learned from mistakes) that have made my travels with my child a lot easier.

When he was a baby, I could amuse my child just by imitating a mobile with fingers. That was all needed if he was bored. However, it is difficult to manage a toddler child as he/she starts walking or moving around on his/her own. After they attain the age of one, they learn to throw tantrums for reasons parents may sometimes not understand. Long distance travel which binds them to one place for a long time can become unbearable for your tiny tots. We need to keep them engaged throughout, if they aren't sleeping. The following are a few suggestions based on what kept my toddler son engaged during my travels.

Apps

Kid-friendly tabs like ipads, samsung galaxy tab 3, micromax canvas tabby, kindle, fuhu nabi jr and leappad ultra are some of the popular ones. They come packaged with some in-built apps for kids and provide parental control options. If you don't have one of these, you can use any tab or smartphone and download the apps prior to your travel. A few great apps to entertain your infant are listed below. You don't need to be online when you use them.

Talking Ginger, Talking Tom and Talking Paul (available for download from App Store and on Google Play): As they develop their language skills, these "talking" apps bring a lot of fun to toddler kids. Besides repeating our words, they provide options to brush the teeth or feed these cute animals. My son loves to pop the bubbles or tickle the ginger cat and then laugh out loud with the cat. He also seems to be fascinated with the way Paul, the Panda juggles the balls.

Elmo loves ABCs (available at App Store and Play store): This app is aimed at kids learning to identify the letters of the alphabet in a fun way, through the sesame street puppets especially, from the most loved Elmo, just by looking at whom my boy can't stop giggling. Besides tracing (you may have to help here), find-the-hidden-things and drawing/doodling, there are a few sesame street videos on the alphabet. The basic version has only 3 letters. The rest can be accessed with the pro version.

Fischer Price Laugh and Learn (Appstore and Playstore): Learn the alphabet, numbers and shapes through fischer price characters and songs. Unlike the Elmo app, you can swipe through the pictorial representations of all the letters and numbers, one by one.

iReading - Classic Fairy Tales Collection I, II and III (iPad only): This is a read-along app for fairy tale classics like Pinocchio and Peter Pan and moral stories like the Crow and the water jug and the Fox and the grapes. It was earlier available on Google Play but was stopped some time back. There is a separate app for each story. Some of the dialogues in the classic stories seem to be taken from the Disney movies.

My First Words: Visual dictionaries for 12+ months, 18+ months and 24+ months old babies, classified by these age groups.

YouTube Kids: You can download the short rhymes with the offline option and then play later.
It's a good idea not to let your child use these on a daily basis (when not travelling) as he/she might get bored of them soon.
International flights provide in-flight TV for your entertainment. Most of them have kids channels and animated movies. The challenge is to convince your toddler to wear the earphones. Even if they oblige, they may not keep them for more than 10 minutes!

Books

A lot of screen watching puts strain on the young eyes, to avoid which, you can use other ways to engage your child. Listing a few of my child's fav books. These can be carried wherever you go:

The eyes game, by Herve Tullet: Each page of this board book has a face (of a human/cat/robot…) with cut-outs where eyes should have been. Hold them in front of your eyes. You can imagine how your child feels when the eyes in the pictures are moving ;-)
Knuffle Bunny, by Mo Willems: Another loved story by another popular children's author. My toddler loves listening to this one as he too speaks a language similar to Trixie's: "aggle flabble gabble".
If you give a cat a cupcake, by Laura Numeroff: Contains large illustrations of a cat doing crazy stuff like eating a cupcake to swimming, to building sand castles, to rowing and much more.
Little Miss Muffet, by Child's Play: This is an extension of the popular nursery rhyme where along with the spider, little Miss Muffet is frightened away by many other creatures, one after the other. The board book contains illustrations and cut-outs for the animals and the noises that they make, so your child also learns various animal sounds. There are similar books in this collection called Classic Books with Holes.

Pepper series and Clifford series also have catchy pictures for toddlers, available in both board and paper formats. I carry the tiny board books available at dollar stores as well.
I usually read each book once aloud which gets him interested and then he reads by himself for the next few minutes, though he may do it by holding them upside down!

Other ways to engage and entertain

• Crayons or magnetic slates to doodle.

• Small toys that can be carried: If not taking a public transport, you can also carry the noisy ones. No limit to your choices.

• Action songs/rhymes. My son has just begun enjoying doing the actions for rhymes like 'itsy bitsy spider' and 'slippery fish'. I can very much count on this way to spend time with him until he reaches the age when it no longer interests him.

• Suitable food and drinks. I also carry finger foods that he likes so he can take as much time he wants to finish. Please do keep lollipops or feeding bottles, whichever appropriate, just in case of ear pains during flights.

If on a plane/bus/train, despite the numerous ways to hold them onto their seat, we must take them for a couple of walks on the aisle (when they aren't required to strap on seat-belts), just as we would go for our own need to stretch. If on a road trip, we can take a few stops when the child can get out for a change.

When travelling by flight, a bassinet always comes handy. It can be used to keep all the baby stuff when the baby is on your lap. However, once the child crosses the 11kg weight limit, the flight crew deny the bassinet once they know. For my last travel, we had booked a separate seat for my son which definitely eased the journey for him and for us parents.

Off-the-topic advice: Don't forget to carry a stroller when going on a vacation trip!

I hope that these tips will be helpful to you. Do let me know how you manage your infant/toddler or even an older kid during your journeys, in comments. Have a happy journey!

Breakfast @ MTR's

One Sunday morning, my husband and I decided to have a walk in Lalbagh and then have breakfast at MTR near Lalbagh. My mother-in-law was visiting us at that time and she too joined.

We reached there at around 7.00am and strolled around for half-an-hour. My mother-in-law is a sugar patient so she couldn't walk further. We then went to MTR.

I had heard a lot of people making it a routine to go to MTR after going to Lalbagh, be it for breakfast, lunch or dinner. It sounded like a must-visit place in Bengaluru and I wasn't new here. Hence, I had a strong urge to go there. We reached there by 8 o' clock. As we ascend the steps, we can see black-and-white pictures of eminent people in the 50's/60's who visited there. Gives an authentic feel to it, right? But, but. All the glory stops here. At the entrance we are told to wait as no table is available and one of our names is entered in the waiting list. Well, waiting for a few minutes is no big a deal. After all, it is a popular hang-out and we had experienced the same at Vidyarthi Bhavan, Gandhi Bazaar.

There are 2 waiting areas and both were half occupied when we entered. We waited for 15 minutes as told, our name wasn't called. Twenty minutes passed, thirty. We passed our time by chatting about mundane things. We also joked that it would have been better if we'd enlisted before going to Lalbagh. At 8.45, my mother-in-law started cribbing about the delay and suggested that if we had left for home, we could've had made some dish quickly. I don't mind a late breakfast, but I was hungry after walking. I could understand that being a diabetic, she couldn't control any longer. My husband was standing at the entrance while we were seated in a corner, so that he could enquire every now and then. Meanwhile, an entourage of about 10-15 people came and we heard one of them telling another in their group that they had reserved seats for 7.30am. This called for another comment by my mother-in-law. We were called around 9.15 and I was so relieved that I wouldn't have to hear any more of her nagging and all my hunger died away.

The surprise doesn't end here. As we entered, we noticed that quite a few tables were empty and yet we were ushered to an inner room which had an entrance to another adjoining room. We were seated at a table that could seat around 10 or more people and yet we were the only ones there, albeit, 4 more joined our table after 15-20 minutes. Why did they make us wait for so long when there were so many empty seats? Anyway, we ordered. Those who ordered Masala Dosa had to wait for another half-an-hour. Further, there were only a few waiters to serve. After such a long wait, we expected that at least, the food would be special. The only good thing was the pure ghee that was served in abundance along with almost every dish. The prices were not too high, not even as much as Adiga's.

Well, it was a unique experience. It was like waiting in the queue for a darshan of the Lords at Tirupathi and/or Dharmasthala. But even such waits end in satisfaction of having a divine darshan. I wouldn't want to suffer such waiting at the cost of a simple breakfast. However, based on the fact that a few people didn't show any frustration at the long waiting time, it can be an ideal place to have food if you have all the time in the world.

A review of the 'Immortals of Meluha'

With the last part of the trilogy being published shortly, I bring my review of the 'Immortals… '

A combination of mythology and history. That is the power of fiction. This book, in gist, portrays Lord Shiva as a human being, a tribal leader in the Himalayas who comes upon the Meluhans, who lead him to his destiny of being a 'Mahadev'.

The Meluhans belong to the Indus Valley Civilization, are law-abiding, sincere people living in a crime-free society. They have planned-cities which are built as fortresses. They lead ideal lives by the motto of 'Truth, Duty and Honour'. As to 'immortals', you must find out for yourself :)

The book is an easy read, even for the uninitiated. The language is quite simple. Amish Tripathi has given us our very own, Indian fantasy world. Places are personified by just a mention of the meaning of their names, like Meluha - the land of pure life, or Srinagar - the respected city. The story also delves into Philosophy, as Shiva, though he is a brave warrior, is in pursuit of truth, righteousness and justice. One small drawback may be that the humour is not that terrific, though a few laughs are guaranteed.

All in all, this novel has a huge potential for a Bollywood movie with the backdrop of the mighty Himalayas and other beautiful locales like Kashmir and the Dal lake. The 'saviour' hero is a great dancer and involved in a difficult love story. And there is a lot of action, in as big as a war, albeit, with swords and spears. (News is that Karan Johar has already bought the rights of the book.)

In its sequel, the plot only thickens. Of course, new and interesting characters (as well as creatures!) are introduced, though not as we know of them from mythology.  Mysteries are revealed. Dangerous paths are trodden. It's an interesting journey of finding what is good and what is evil as against fighting the evil. I'm left wondering what could possibly be there in the last part, 'Oath of the Vayuputras'.

Masthikatte - a place of beauty

Waterfalls at Hulikal Ghat

When we think of a village, we picture greenery, lakes and rivers, red-roof houses with spacious courtyards or verandas, and prominently, peace of mind. Masthikatte is one such village, located in the Western Ghats region of Shimoga district.

The name Masthikatte became popular with the coming of the Karnataka Power Corporation (KPC) which was attracted by the immense supply of water due to heavy rainfall in this area which helps the river Varahi flow perennially.  As a result, the townsfolk do not have to face dearth of water or power and the farmland below the town looks lush green.

Mani dam

The main area is the junction of roads leading to Udupi, Nagara and Thirthahalli. There are a few grocery and other small-business shops and a couple of mini hotels. Then we have a stretch of houses on one side of the road, surrounded by hills and on the other, a petrol bunk, an anganwadi or balwadi and a church with a clinic in its compound. It is difficult to watch the sun rise as the view is blocked by the hills, but sunset is beautiful and picturesque in its pink and orange hue - of course, when it is not cloudy.

At 10am IST in the month of September

In the absence of noise and air pollution, one can experience serenity, even in the afternoons when the entire village sleeps. At the juncture of monsoon and winter, one can watch the village covered in mist, even in broad daylight, though it may appear to be twilight :) The backwaters of the Mani dam are scenic enough for a visit. The Chandikamba temple, also called as the ghati devi temple, situated at one side of the road that weaves its way through the Hulikal Ghats attracts a lot of devotees due to a legend of its own. During the rains, if we are driving through the ghats, we can get lucky and get glimpses of the many mini-waterfalls. Another famous temple is of Lord Narasimha and Goddess Lakshmi  at the top of the ghat. The idols were shifted here as their original place was drowned in the floods caused by overflowing of a dam and incessant rainfall.

Backwaters of Mani dam

Few other places of interest are 

• Kuntukallabbi falls near Hosangadi, 10-12km from Masthikatte. You need to take permission from KPC office to enter. Best time to visit is from September to November.
• Chakra dam, 20kms away.
• Kavaledurga, also known as the fort of seven closures, 20 km away.
• Ambuthirtha, the birthplace of river Sharavathi, 20 kms from Kavaledurga. It has a mythological reference to the Ramayana, thus considered sacred.
• Kavimane at Kuppalli, the birth place of the notable poet Rashtrakavi Kuvempu, which has been turned into a museum in his memory, 50kms from Masthikatte.

Ganesha Temple at Hulikal Ghat

Sadly today, as the power project is complete and the KPC colony is almost derelict, not as bustling as it once used to be creating some business for the village, the growth of the village is now stagnant. The people are almost self-sustainable for food, growing vegetables and fruits in their backyards. It's only during the community programmes conducted during festivals that we witness a crowd as large as those that we see in our daily lives in a city like Bengaluru. Though a few families have uprooted themselves from the village in search of better life, others have braced themselves with what they have got and enjoy what they should - a stress-free life in the midst of nature's beauty.