Sweet weekend nothings

It is a strange irony of life that the nicer your weekend is, the stronger the Monday morning blues are bound to hit. Of course one way of addressing this is to ensure that your weekends aren't that nice in the first place, so that you don't actually mind so much when Monday comes around but then that defeats the purpose of having the weekend at all doesn't it?
Yes, yes I know I need to have a couple of mugs of coffee and get my head screwed on the right way, but then what is the use of having a blog if one can't allow oneself the occasional inane ramble?

Anyway so as you may have already guessed I'm deep in the throes of some solid Monday morning blues and I intend to try and get over them by writing all about my rather nice weekend. It began on a slightly discordant note actually with P waking up bright and early and announcing that he was off to work. "What what what!!" I yelped with more than a touch of wifely indignation. "But its a Saturday!"
"And its the Saturday I have to work", P replied blithely. He added some stuff about earning the daily bread and such like just to get the point across strongly and bounded out the door his laptop flapping against his heels.

I sulked for twenty minutes and then decided to take Nikki down to the park for some cheering up. We had been there for about fifteen minutes when my sister called to announce she was coming over to see Nikki and me. "Wheee!" I said and informed Nikki that her C paachi was coming over soon. "Wah wah wah!" said Nikki happily and promptly tried to shove a blade of grass she had slyly gotten hold of while I wasn't looking in her mouth.
C paachi arrived shortly after and Nikki immediately turned on the stranger anxiety mode she's been displaying for some time now. Even though my sister lives in the same city as us, she stays in the hostel on her college campus a considerable distance away. That, combined with the fact that her MBA class schedule leaves her with just about half a day off every other week means that we don't get to see her very often. Like with all other people she doesn't meet on a regular basis (make that daily), Nikki spent the first twenty minutes after C paachi's arrival regarding her with extreme suspicion. It was only after this initial breaking in phase that she warmed up to her and even acquiesced to showing off some of her recently acquired skills: making a piggy face, clapping her hands, waving bye bye and pointing to herself when asked "Where is Nikki?" Of course she points to herself when she's asked where Mommy or Daddy are as well but we'll leave that for another post.
C had picked up some groceries on her way over and was in the mood for some grub, being among the unfortunate category of food deprived hostelites who think a McDonald's burger is manna from heaven, so we decided to have a cook-in at home. We enlisted the help of my house help in the process and an hour and a half of chopping and sauteeing later we had a delectable feast laid out: grilled chicken, mashed potatoes, bruschetta and a green beans salad, recipe courtesy a friend of C's who has the unique distinction of having converted his hostel room into a not half bad, fully functional kitchenette. That done, we proceeded to stuff our faces, having fed and bathed Nikki along the way, post which she had descended into sweet slumber.

She was up about an hour later and we had taken her down to the park for some more run ins with the blades of grass when P got back home, suitably contrite. Why don't you girls head for an evening out while I take care of Nikki he suggested, catapulting himself in seconds to the hall of outstanding husbands. Neither C nor I needed much convincing and an hour later we found ourselves in a nearby shopping mall stuffed to the gills with eager shoppers, there to take advantage of the Great Year End (?) sale. C and K, a friend who had joined us at the mall, threw themselves into the fray with excited yelps, characteristic of shopaholics who can sniff a good deal from miles away. Being of a more diffident disposition, I threw myself into the nearest Crosswords to see if I could find anything interesting to read.
I haven't been out shopping that often by myself since Nikki was born and have felt strangely lost on the few occasions that I have managed to do so. Never having been a great shopper myself, I usually rely on P who really comes into his own on a shopping expedition of any kind, breaking all stereotypes of men hating shopping. Books however are another trip altogether and I spent a few blissful moments in Crosswords before C & K arrived, loaded with shopping bags. We headed home after an eclectic meal of shawarmas and momos, to find Nikki blissfully asleep and P in an equal state of bliss in front of the TV watching some match he had recorded earlier. What is it with men and cricket anyway?

C & I opted to watch Confessions of A Shopaholic on C's laptop and ashamed though I am I will admit that I fell asleep, literally five minutes into the movie. This of course is to be attributed to sheer exhaustion on my part and does not reflect on the movie in any way. The movie remains as yet unwatched so I reserve comments on it for another post. I'm a huge fan of the Shopaholic series and have been wanting to watch the movie for ages! It had released very close to my due date last year and I had had to forego the multiplex movie watching experience which I thoroughly enjoy, for prenatal squats and the duck walk. Are there any Becky Bloomwood fans out there who liked the movie? Do tell!

Sunday morning saw us up bright and early and at a lovely little park near our house, a recent discovery of P & I,aptly titled Joggers' Park. Though not a patch on the far more illustrious park by the same name in Bombay, this little park does have its own quaint charm and even boasts of a little lake with a small island and gazebo in it. P & I took turns jogging and playing with Nikki who seems to have inherited our love for the great outdoors and was having a total blast jiggling up and down and squealing in excitement at just being out and about. Jogs done, we headed to a bohemian cafe nearby where we proceeded to completely nullify the positive effects of the jogging by stuffing ourselves to the gills with cheese omelets, mashed potatoes and a couple gallons of adrak chai each.
Grocery shopping was still pending on the weekend things to do list so we staggered to our neighborhood supermarket when we were done with breakfast, reaching home in time for Nikki's feed and bath. The rest of the afternoon was spent at the altar of the Australian Open watching that God in human form, Roger Federer. Yes I support him, even when its a clay court and the mighty Nadal lurks on the other side of the net.

Feeling suitably inspired we headed out to play some table tennis ourselves later that evening before catching up with some friends. We ended the weekend with a light dinner, the guilt of the morning's excesses still lingering strongly in our collective consciences and I fell asleep, yet again!, while trying to read the Sunday newspaper which I hadn't had a chance to even look at during the course of the day.
I was feeling rather blue this morning, as I do most Monday mornings which is quite strange given the fact that I don't work anymore and really shouldn't be suffering from the Monday morning blues. Blame it on the weekend hangover. Nothing a cup of coffee can't cure I suppose. And then, there's always the promise of the next weekend just five days away!