James Ramya Rajan

It is almost a week since we landed in Cairo. The journey here was made memorable thanks to Emirates. They totally pampered #OhBoy with toys, activity books, Polaroid shots and special meals etc. Also this was his first flight with in-flight entertainment. He was beyond thrilled.

This was our first view of Cairo. A total contrast to what we have been used to in KL. This is not a complaint by any means, just an observation. #OhBoy was quick to provide his approval!

We have a temporary accommodation in one of the downtown areas and the chaos on the streets is both beautiful and overwhelming. I guess the city will slowly grow on us. As of now, we are mostly silently observing it and hopefully soon we will contribute to some of this chaos :)

There is a thin (sometimes thick) layer of dust on every building, tree or anything outside. Beneath it everyday life moves on with so much gusto! A great metaphor for life. It will take a while for me to get used to the dust, coming from Malaysia. But I cannot wait to become a part of Cairo and Cairo to become a part of us!

As we get ready to leave Hyderabad, it’s time to reminisce the good food we had here.

Hyderabad is usually known for its Biryani. However over the last few years the craze for Mandi has surpassed it. I had earlier tried out Mandi with a friend at Mandi@36 📍. This time we all went together as a family. Everyone from kids to adults enjoyed it.

We also went to the very old school Minerva coffee shop 📍 for both breakfast and evening snacks, and enjoyed both the outings.

All these were of course punctuated with the street side Punnugulu, Mirchi bajji and Sweet Lime juice.

After about two decades I put on some மருதாணி / Henna / Mehndi on my hands to motivate #OhBoy who was trying it for the first time. Here is what our palms look like now!

Every time I have visited Chennai, since moving out in 2021, my first breakfast of the visits has been in Sri Krishna Bhavan. The default order being Pongal, with their chutney and sambar🤌

Today was no exception. I love their consistency in delivering tasty quality food at reasonable prices.

The little man who was like this just a few years ago, is already out for a sleepover. The anxious me has been calling to check if he has had a bath, ate, slept etc

I certainly am not ready for such independent behaviour. I guess I never will be, having seen him as a little hapless being!

#Parenting

We wrapped up our stay in Malaysia yesterday after 3 years of stay here.

Towards the end things became crazy busy with some unplanned hospital visits, sales of cars, farewell visits from friends etc. We were wrapped up in a warm feeling of care and affection from friends who made sure we were fed after our kitchen was packed, made the effort to travel from afar to meet us one last time and stood with us till we left in the van to the airport. We felt blessed to have them all in our lives.

So long Malaysia! I am really hoping of coming back here and checking off the list of pending things to do.

Before hopping on to the flight, we had our one last fix of Kopi along with a butter toast and egg custard tart at the Oriental Kopi at KLIA2. You can see #OhBoy give his sign of approval. We left KL with a smile on our lips!

#MalaysianDiary

The last couple of weeks have been hectic on the #parenting front. One day #OhBoy retuned back unwell from school. We initially thought it was just a simple stomach bug, as he had a temperature along with it. Soon the temperature came down and all the tests came out negative as well. He slowly recovered and we never knew what was the cause.

So after a week, we went to a friend’s place for dinner. He was his normal self, but then eventually he refused to have dinner and said his tummy is aching. I got him back home and put him to sleep. By this time he was crying and it was a long night. He would wake up every hour and complain about the aching tummy and then go back to sleep. The whole night was this in repeat mode. At times he would be sobbing without actually calling and waking us up. It was sad to see him like that and tough when as a parent you can’t do anything to provide relief. In the morning he eventually pooped and was a different person after that. That is when it hit us that he could be constipated.

But then he was regular with his bowel movements and after an earlier warning from the paediatrician we always keep an eye on his toilet habits and spoke to him about it as well. So we were not sure what exactly it was this time.

We eventually got an appointment with the doctor and did a few tests to reveal that it was a case of paediatric constipation. The doctor said that it was pretty common among children. He is now on a bunch of medication to ease things out for him. Finally the pains have gone away and we are back to a regular schedule.

Below are my notes on things we need to do as parents to reduce such incidents. #OhBoy was doing most of this already. The only area he was slipping was withholding during playtime at school. And that eventually triggered all of this.

Notes on paediatric constipation

1. Constipation is when either child does not pass stools or the stool is very hard and large
2. The symptoms for this are
   • less than 3 bowel movements a week
   • dry and hard stools that are painful to pass
   • bloated with abdominal pains
   • stomach pains that improve after they poop
   • traces of liquid or pasty stool in the underwear
   • blood on stool
   • poops like pellets
3. The cause for this could be any of the following
   • Diet — lack of fiber, not having enough fluids, more junk food, lots of daily products (Cheese, milk)
   • Lack of physical activity
   • Withholding (due to involvement in play or hesitation to use the toilets)
   • Emotional — Stress in family/life
   • Busy children — Who ignore body signals for want to play, too packed schedule
   • Underlying physical condition
4. Changes to reduce such occurrences
   • Change in diet to include more fiber (Fruits, vegetables)
   • Intake lot of fluids
   • Get more exercise or physical activity
   • Good toilet habits — twice a day sitting on the toilet for 10 minutes, approximately 30 mins after a meal

You can read more about this at the following links

1. https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseases/constipation-in-children
2. https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/constipation-in-children/
3. https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/baby/health/constipation-in-children/

After 10 years, upgrading my personal computer setup. My last laptop was a MacBook Pro on Intel chip. Now migrating to iMac on M3 chip.

Looking forward to a long acquaintance my new friend!

Ever since we got to know we will be heading to Cairo, I started learning Arabic on Duolingo. Today finished Unit 1!

With our stay in KL is getting to an end soon, we are starting to have goodbye meals with friends. A few weeks ago, we hosted our Chinese neighbour for a lunch at an Indian restaurant here. During that lunch, their son was reminiscing about the Vadai he had in our place, so we followed it up by a breakfast of Vadai, Idly and Dosai another day.

As conversations flowed in different directions that morning, we talked about Mala cuisine and about a lovely chilli chicken we had in one of the places here in KL. They quickly said that we have to try this place in Pudu, where the lady who cooks is from China and makes some fantastic food. So we went there this weekend. What a wonderful meal it turned out to be.

The highlight was the sour and spicy fish. The fish was fried and later a flavourful broth was added. That broth was just divine. We drank bowls of it.

The Pork was also good — so soft, garlicky and spicy as well

There were other dishes like Prawns, Cabbage Sautee, Potato fry, spiced cucumber and the Chilli Chicken we came for. But the chicken was fried too dry and tough for our taste. The sichuan peppers though on it, were fun to eat ;)

We followed it up with some desserts. There were all made from paste of different nuts or seeds. We had one cup each of Black Sesame, Peanut, Almond and Walnut. I loved the Peanut and Black Sesame one.

#OhBoy was playing well with them all through and was a jester making up jokes and silly games. As our time here in KL is coming to end, I am slowly realising the so many things and people I will miss about this place. But I am glad to be leaving with so many wonderful memories!

#MalaysianDiary

This morning The Missus had to participate at a Yoga event a part of her official duties. We joined in as well. We stayed after the event to watch few of the games in the Sports Day of the school. One of them was an racing event for children with special needs and those in the autistic spectrum. Each child had a teacher or a volunteer helping them and it was nice to see these kids included as part of the Sports Day.

We were told that the school has a couple of teachers for children with special needs and when such events happen, teachers from other schools pitch in to help them. And we were told it was a Malaysian government initiative. It is good to see some thought gone in for the needs of these children, rather than them being just an after thought. Can more be done? Sure. But kudos for the steps already taken!

#MalaysianDiary

📺 The Good Doctor, Prime Video ★★★★

We watched the series finale of Good Doctor a couple of days ago. We started watching this after we finished watching House. Both were created by David Shore.

We in general are suckers for good episodic drama be it either in medical or legal. So it was no surprise that we gravitated towards this. Also unlike House, the approach is all positive and has less sarcasm and meanness. So it made the watch all more fun.

They would regularly kill off characters and bring in new ones. But then it helped the plot move in new directions and kept the story fresh. While talking of characters, I want to quickly mention about the lead character Dr. Shaun Murphy played by Freddie Highmore. This is one of the finest performances of someone in the autistic spectrum, by someone who is neurotypical.

When the series finale started, I was wondering aloud how would they wrap it up. But then towards the end I realised, if writers wanted to they could bring any series to an end at any time. Here they brought the plot to some cliffhangers, cut to “10 years later” and neatly tied it all up. In an way I appreciate showrunners letting a show end when they don’t have any thing new to add!

Our stay in Malaysia will end soon

After 3 years in Kuala Lumpur, it’s time to move again. By the end of this quarter we would be shifting to Cairo, Egypt.

Before moving to KL, I was a bit apprehensive about this place. We were relatively new parents still and we were anxious of how #OhBoy will adapt to this place.

But all it took was just the first day and I was so happy by the amount of greenery around, the cleaner air and evening showers! Everywhere we went we would keep commenting about the amount of vegetation was around and how much we will miss it when we leave Malaysia.

We always felt at home here. The food and culture, all felt familiar to our South Indian palate and we could get by as locals without attracting any attention of being a foreigner.

We got to travel around and have wonderful memories of the various visits we did. When we started, we hoped to visit all the 13 states and 3 federal territories during our stay. And as of today we stand at 10 states and 2 federal territories. Not a bad score and I hope we get to visit one more state before we bid adieu.

KL is where #OhBoy started his schooling. He transformed from not knowing any English to conversing only in English, that too with a Malay accent and “lah” and “already” thrown in as much as possible. He will miss Malaysia much more than us. We have been constantly talking about the movement to Cairo, to reduce the separation anxiety that will happen when we move.

The thing I will personally miss the most, is the hikes that I get to do around each week here in KL. I started this fairly late in our 2nd year of stay and since then have been regular at it. I just wish I had started earlier.

I keep telling my wife that if there was an option to retire outside of India, I would choose Malaysia over any other place — good weather, lots of nature, relatively lower living costs and good medical facilities.

Hope to make the most of the next couple of months here!

🥾Hiking at Bukit Dinding 📍

After a while, I explored a new trail this morning — Bukit Dinding. I was also in a new part of KL city.

The trail was mostly cemented path. It started with a good incline and then smoothened out. It is a moderate trail, that beginners can do. There is good tree cover all through, so  you can do this later in the day as well. There were a lot of locals, some of them doing it for fitness and some of them were training for trail running.

After a while I got bored of walking in the cemented path and got into one of the trails that was marked for mountain bikes. That lead me to one of the many inner trails for hikes. I took the “green” trail to the peak. It was a nice walk through the trees. I was alone on this trail and had the forest for myself 😍!!

I walked back down on the cemented path. There was a “pink” trail as well which was supposed to have a good view of KL skyline. Maybe next time.

Like clockwork, a week after I got new shoes, the Merrell Vapor Glove that I have been using since 2020 gave in. This was the first shoe that gave me a taste of barefoot experience. I have done strength training in them, did late night walks during the pandemic, ran on asphalt and even did a couple of hikes with them here in KL.

So long! You served me well.

#OhBoy turned 5!

When we told #OhBoy that it was June 1st, he was thrilled that it was his birthday month. Everyday since he started doing a count down for his big day.

Finally last week #OhBoy turned 5! We had a small celebration at our home, followed by one at his school. We adults stopped celebrating our birthdays a while ago, but now we get to vicariously celebrate through him.

To have seen him grow from a hapless little being to one who constantly questions and challenges you on every damn thing, has been a wonderful thing. Sure parenting him has a been taxing, but it has also been one of the most satisfying things as well. I cannot stop to think how blessed I am to be working from home and being available for him every single day.

I thought I will define how he is today in terms to traits, but then I also realise it is a futile exercise as it is constantly changing. For now I am really happy for the times he shows us how thoughtful and kind he can be. I can only hope he hones more of that, than anything else!

Meet my new kicks — a pair of Camper Peu Path sneakers.

From the way I refer to it, you might think I knew about this brand for a long time. But I hardly knew about them when I bought it.

So I was just in the market for some barefoot or minimalist shoes, to replace my current pair of walking/running shoes from Asics. And I want to try on shoes, before buying them. The ones I had in mind — Vivobarefoot and Xero shoes were out of question, since they were available only as an online purchase in Malaysia.

And barefoot or zero drop shoes are notoriously hard to come by here. After a while, last weekend I came across Altra Escalante at The Running Lab in Exchange TRX. I really wanted to try it, but they did not have my size.

After checking out almost all the footwear shops, we aimlessly went into the one belonging to Camper. These Peu Path shoes immediately got my attention and on wearing them, they fit like a glove and it was joy at first try! I wanted another colour, but this one was on 50% off. It had everything I wanted — wide toe box, zero drop and barefoot ethos!

I later went about reading about the Camper brand and their shoes. Seems like a cool company.

It is nice how some shoes find you! So far I am enjoying these Peu Path shoes.

#OhBoy got this done at his school for Father’s Day. Hope I like up to this expectation 😅

This device — Daylight DC-1 is very tempting. It has the charm of a Kindle with its fast refreshing e-ink technology. I am tempted mostly because it will be less strain on the eyes, and good for catching up on reading without much distractions. But then this is a first generation device. I will most probably wait out for the next version, when things settle down on the hardware and software front.

🥾Hiking at Sri Bintang 📍

A month ago when we were trying out Bak Kut The at Sri Bintang, I got to know about the trail nearby. Last week I got a chance to hike it as part of my Thursday hikes. I liked it so much that I went again with my wife on the weekend.

This is a very good beginner trail and traverses through two hills. If you are an absolute beginner, you can stop at the 1st hill and then head back. It would probably take you less than an hour. And if you want to make it hard then you can multiple loops of the 2nd hill.
 
There are two options to go up the 2nd hill, and one of them does not have any tree cover. So if you are planning to do it late in the morning, I would suggest some full sleeves and sunscreen.

The view from the 2nd hill is great.

On the 2nd hike here over the weekend, there was a hiking group who were there with some of their pet dogs. There was a lady who was lovingly carrying her dog!

Just aside the hill top of the 2nd hill there is a beautiful spot where you can picnic. Someone has setup some tables and even left some books for you to read.

And since we were there, how could we not have our Bak Kut Teh 😋

📽 Premalu, Disney Hotstar ★★★★★

Yesterday, we finished watching Premalu. I absolutely loved it. It is such a refreshing and light hearted movie, without being frivolous or over the top. It was very grounded and finds comedy even on the mundane things of life. We laughed all the way through — what a fun writing it has.

The story is a very generic story, of a boy and girl across different strata falling in love. But the entire treatment of setting up their ways of life, how they cross each others path and then become intertwined is all done so well and in a new way that you are sitting there and watching a slice of those lives. The movie begins and ends in a matter of fact manner, so there is no introduction or climax scene as such.

And all this wouldn’t have worked out without the cast. Just spot on. The leads Naslen and Babitha have lived their roles, that you just don’t see them as actors. And everyone of those supporting cast, support the leads so well, that you left wanting for more.

#OhBoy made this at school for Mother’s Day!

My company @nfnlabs.in does a monthly curation of interesting tools and services that we come across. Here is this month’s curation.

nfnlabs.in/blog-deta…

#OhBoy is learning to enjoy road trips, particularly those breaks 😊

Owing to a system malfuntion, the Air Asia staff at Lombok, Indonesia had to hand write every boarding pass for the flight to Kuala Lumpur 