She's here!

A little girl has joined our family.

After having two nephews, we are now blessed with a niece as of last night, and my parents now have their third grandchild and first grand daughter.   Might I say that she is absolutely gorgeous, and so cute?!   Some juicy, fleshy lips, chubby cheeks, and just an edible face over all.   I know, that's mean.  But I mean it in the most 'I'm in love with her' sort of way.  Really.  I am.  Sigh.

Aww....I am in London and she in Mumbai, which sucks, but I'm looking at a few pics I've received so far, and I can't help but stare at her, tilt my head back and forth poring over every little detail on that precious little face,  the way every strand of hair falls, her eyelashes, her....everything.

I just want her to wake up, and look at us, and smile, and well just grow up a bit!  This is the impatient Aunty talking.   We've waited for her for nine months!

In India, you cannot find out the sex of the baby, so there was a good amount of 'guessing'.   Oquai and I always said it was going to be a lil princess.  Well, thats more because we wanted a lil princess.  How else are we going to be able to buy those beautiful lil strappy dresses, and cute brogues from Aunty Me that we've had to pass by as we go shopping for my nephews.   It's good to balance out the rugged with some flowery prints, no?

So So So So So Happy.   I hope I can make it back home on work in a month or so.  Oquai is telling me to go now and surprise them, but I think I'll hold off, and go when my lil munchkin is out of the hospital, and in her gurgle goo goo gaa gaa state.    What do you think?  It's being more practical, and that way I'll manage to get some work done too.

Her mama, dada, and big bro are all doing well.   Yes, they are.  Big bro is veryyyy excited.  'His' baby if you please, has arrived.   He's been ever so sweet, keeping toys for his baby, and even assigning a car for 'his' baby.

My Dada (Papa M) is so thrilled.   Nana S is relieved and happy, and she says 'SSQUO, she's sooo cute, and pretty'.   I know, we are all biased.  But, all babies are pretty to us no?  And finally, us Aunties - my two other sisters and I have gone a bit cuckoo in excitement I think.  well, can you blame us?

Oh, I'm not sure what it must feel like if this baby was coming out of me, coz I was almost dying of excitement in anticipation of this little one yesterday.   It was so much that after a few hours, I thought I was ready to collapse.

Phew.  And I didn't deliver no baby.


Today I'm humming:  But you love me Daddy by Jim Reeves, a song we used to sing as kids.  And its quite apt for today. 

Pic Source: Rolleduppretty.com

The 2012 Olympics Bubble has gone Poof!

It's crazy how quickly everything finishes.   The cauldron is turned off, the visitors to London have vanished, and the general commotion around events is gone.  Previously closed entrances to tube stations have opened, the volunteers in orange who are ever ready to help you with a smile (in an otherwise grumpy city) are gone too.  Poof.  Thats it.

What still exists though is the buzz.  We were at dinner just two nights ago gorging on Sichuan food and burning my tongue and loving it, and we couldn't stop the chatter about the events we went for, which one was more fun, and of course we had to discuss the really tight speedos that divers love to wear, and tight juicy butts all over the screen.  Shhh.

We were lucky enough to catch cycling around Buckingham Palace, we attended the Semi Finals of Table Tennis and rooted for Singapore, and also Beach Volleyball Quarter Finals, which I have to say was in the most awesomest location with so many location icons in the background.  And so much fun!  My hands were hurting with all the clapping, singing, and general merriment.

But most importantly, we continue to talk about the individual sports themselves, and the greatness that so many athletes showed.   As an Indian, I'm proud to say that we managed to secure six medals, which  doesn't seem like much given we come from a populous country (which is quite an understatement).  But still, knowing how things work in the country, it is commendable, and we should be proud of the progress.  Hopefully, it will encourage and motivate us to do much more, and acknowledge that sponsoring kids interested in sports is a good thing.

London is now back to normal.  Everyone is feeling the lack of Olympics, but I personally think its good that the athletes can go back and relax, the feeling of dread, nervousness and anxiety is finished.   Their stress became our stress too, but vicariously.   As Oquai says, 'they were our puppets'.   We came home and expected to be entertained at the cost of their sleepless nights, and years of toil.

So many sportsmen probably have to go back and start training immediately, in hopes for the next big game.  One person I am very happy for is Michael Phelps - he's done all he wanted, and I'm sure given his all, and has officially decided "thats' it".  I think its an awesome feeling, to go from hours of daily practice to not touching water for a while.  Imagine what he must be feeling.  Freedom.

Speaking of Freedom, how fun was it to see George Michael at the closing ceremony dishing out some fancy moves?!  And The Spice Girls!  Oh, I do heart them, always have.  I know, perhaps cheesy, but 'Wannabe' was one of my favorite songs at the time, and I think I've also performed to a few of their songs.

Looking forward, I think Rio is going to be awesome.  We are wondering if we should make plans to go, but four years down the line, how do you plan?   I believe they will deliver and I think being in Rio will be awesome if the snippets I hear about the food, party and people I've met are anything to go by.  Even mum and dad loved it when they were there.  But then they are quite into their food, drink and travel.

Did you like the 2016 Olympics logo?  I do.  Well, in part.  I LOVE the icon with the three figures, I think it is special, open, colorful, about people coming together, and full of spirit, and also represents what little I know about Brazil and its people, open, inviting, and fun.

The font is nice too (a new one created just for this logo), it is smooth and rounded, and generally tends to work well with the image if even just a tad bit too flowery for me.   And this hits me further when I see all the three items together, the figures, the font and the circles.  It is very symmetrical, the three individual parts in the overall 'oval', but I'm not entirely convinced about the roundness of them all when placed together.

I'm being picky I think.  I'll sit on this, and see how I feel in a few weeks.  For now, overall I like it a lot.  Clean. Happy. Colorful.  Depicting a sense of open energy and collaboration.  This is far from what I felt when I saw the London 2012 logo.  Ugh.  Not good.

For all those non marketing, creative people who think designing a logo is all about throwing in some colors, and fonts, and drawing figures, watch the following video - it seems simple, and in the end the visual is just that - 'simple' to the eye, but there's a lot that goes to making it what you see.  Click here to watch.  

Today I'm humming: Tonight by Summercat