Happy New Year!

Maya enjoying the snow in Basingstoke

Finding the chocolates on the Christmas tree

Hanging up the stockings and putting out mince pies and milk for Father Christmas

A boxing day walk along the clifftops of Hope Cove, Devon

Returning from Devon to Basingstoke - worn out!

Happy New Year to you all! Wishing you all a fantastic 2010, filled with love and happiness and laughter.


What a whirlwind it's been since returning from India. Sometimes it feels like our nine months in Bangalore were a surreal, faraway dream . Children help us to live in the present and whilst Lily has been slightly more unsettled (I suppose she was just a wee one when we went out there and has no memory of life pre-India), Maya has jumped back into life in the UK with astonishing ease and enthusiasm. I knew she'd be happy to be back (she's an English Rose at heart, our Maya), but I wasn't quite expecting such a separation of that was then, this is now. It's admirable really, this ability to embrace our life as it is now with such gusto, without so much as a glance backwards to the heat and rickshaws and chai and cows and swaying palms......

....but is it really all forgotten?.....

Well.

Let's say there is something of a Bangalore hangover going on. For example, when I present most food to Maya, the first thing she does is cock her head on one side, eye me suspiciously and ask Is it spicey? Whilst she may not be making a connection with India in this statement, it still makes me chuckle and takes me back.

What else? Maya's little pink and gold bangles keep turning up everywhere in the most unlikely of places. It's funny, because she looks at them for a while and then puts them to one side. Maya has no interest in wearing them back in England, whereas in Bangalore she enjoyed donning bangles and bindis at least a few times a week. She just knows: That was India, This is England. And when in Rome, do as the Romans do.

There's also the comments that Maya comes out with out of the blue. Yesterday, for example, she suddenly said 'Where's my letter?' Which letter is that, I ask. 'My letter from Paula.' Paula was Maya's teacher in Bangalore whom she adored, and it transpired that she'd told Maya she'd write her a letter once back in England. But no sooner had she asked this, she was off, the question buried again for another day.

Yesterday, I made chai for the first time since getting back and suddenly Maya was there, by my side, being my helper in just the same way she always was in Bangalore, stirring in the sugar and spices and smacking her lips in anticipation. It doesn't quite taste the same over here though!

Then there's also the infamous head wobble. Naturally it's not as pronounced as it was a few months ago and a day will come when it ceases entirely, but at the moment the sight of our three year old wildly wobbling her head Indian style is too much to resist and I must confess that Maya's daddy and I are wholely encouraging it for nostalgia's sake!

On another note, we spent Christmas with my family (sans wandering grandparents who are still in Africa) at a beautiful place in Devon called Hope Cove in an old converted barn which was the biggest treat ever. Lots of running around country lanes, windy walks, amazing food, brilliant company (Christmas day was spent with some additional wonderful family friends), baaing at sheep and lots of excitement. We're now back in Basingstoke where the snow has all vanished finally. Amazingly, it became infamous overnight as being the most affected town in the UK when the snow fell recently. The snow sank all the way to our knees in the driveway and we very, very nearly didn't make it to Devon!

At the start of February, we'll be moving to South West London. Hooray, yes we have found a lovely little place to live and we're really excited about it. I've already missed the deadline for applying for a school for Maya for next September which seems to me utterly extraordinary but hey, no point stressing, we'll get the little lady in somewhere.

So all is good - we're all happy and healthy. Andy is loving his new job in London. Lily I think has been missing her routine a little from days in Bangalore and doesn't like having to wear so many clothes...but she's been brilliant and is getting cheekier by the day. Maya's Mama is also missing India....but I know I'll be back one day.

And Maya? The heroine of the blog? She is doing what most three year olds do so fantastically well. Throwing herself into life with boundless energy. Learning, questioning, taking things in, not missing a trick. And eating far too much chocolate over Christmas time.