HAPPY NEW YEAR - FELIZ AÑO NUEVO - FROHES NEUES JAHR!

2005 is gone...Se fue el 2005!....2005 ist vorbei!...

Masalamom’s Year in Review - in Pictures

January – 7 months pregnant

February – Good-bye to my office life

March – Gaurang Fabián Prabhu Bogarín is born

April – Fabi meets his maternal grandparents – Goes to Delhi, Agra (Visits the Taj Mahal)

May – Fabi celebrates his Catholic Baptism

June – Fabi celebrates his Indian Naming Ceremony

July - Monsoon rains flood Mumbai

August – Fabi goes to Goa – Celebration of first Costa Rican Mother’s Day (Aug.15th)
September – ¡Masala Fabi, Pura Vida! Blog is born – Fabi's first Costa Rican Children's Day (Sept.9th) - Fabi starts having solid food

October – Masala Mom and Dad's 2nd Wedding Anniversary

November – Fabi celebrates his first Diwali – Travels to Dhule – He can now sit up on is own

December – Fabi celebrates his first Christmas – He is crawling and is very sociable

And after recapturing the happenings in our family and saying a prayer of thanks for all the blessings received in the past year, I like to enjoy the anticipation of what 2006 will bring. There's nothing like a clean slate to start over again...renewed energy for different projects and new dreams!

Do you have "New Year's Resolutions"?

There's always room from improvement, right? Well...for this new year of 2006, I would like to manage my time better, read more, pray more, eat (and cook!) healthy meals for Ishan and for myself, enjoy to the fullest all of my time with Fabi, exercise, loose the remaining of my post-pregnancy weight...I'm almost there...see?

So...as we say good bye to the year 2005, I would like to take this opportunity to wish you a very Happy New Year!!!...I hope 2006 brings you many satisfactions and nice surprises!

Camera crazy!

Go ahead and have a look at my recent pictures. I think I did a good job at documenting Fabi's first Christmas. Oh!...and by the way: it's true what they say about first-time parents going camera crazy with their baby! I'm a living proof!

A video of Fabi enjoying his new swimming pool - the one he got for his first X-Mas.

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New Traditions

This was Fabi's first Christmas - Here's the story:

Christmas is the time when families get together to celebrate the Birth of Jesus Christ. Normally, people get together for dinner on Christmas Eve and enjoy a meal where the main dish is turkey or ham.

However, given my culinary background I knew that preparing a Christmas dinner was a little too much for me, so I thought I'd prepare some Christmas snacks, where the main dish was ham...sandwiches! India is a widely vegetarian country, but thanks to My Dollar Store and its variety of imported goodies, I got canned ham! What did you expect from a novice like me?


I ensembled several other snacks and with the help of Ishan we had a X-Mas Hors d'œuvres table (instead of X-Mas Dinner table), but it worked because we ate so much that dinner was not necessary! So...we had mint flavored eggnog and pears cooked in port wine (from Goa!) and X-Mas cake from Monginis.

Considering the fact that it was my first time ever organizing and hosting a get-together like this, it was no surprise that I forgot to do several things, like:

-sprinkling nutmet on the eggnog when I was serving it
-taking the cake out of the package before putting it on the table
-and serving the dessert (Red and green layered jelly with fruit)


Our neighbor Grace joined Sopan, Priya, Ishan, Fabi and me on X-Mas Eve. Since it was Fabi's first Christmas, I thought it would be appropriate to tell him the story of Jesus, which I read from his own pop-up book:

"God sent an angel to tell Mary that she was going to be the Mother of His only son!
Mary and her husband, Joseph, traveled to Bethlehem. The town was crowded, so they stayed in a stable. The baby Jesus was born there!
Out in the countryside, an angel appeared to a group of shepherds. "Don't be afraid," said the angel. "The Savior you've been waiting for has been born!"
Far away, three wise men began their journey. They collected their gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh, and mounted their camels. They knew that they had to see this King for themselves. The wise men and the shepherds went to the stable to see the baby Jesus. They all felt blessed for being a part of God's plan for the world."


I went on to explain that since Jesus' birthday is a special one, everybody gets a present. I 'played' Santa Claus and started to distribute the gifts under the tree. Fabi had a lot of fun playing with the wrapping paper.

With Christmas music in the background we finished opening the presents and then headed for the table to enjoy all the snacks. We had a nice evening.

Next day, I went to Church and came back to enjoy the day watching Fabi play in his new inflatable swimming pool. Later we had our family Christmas picture taken and headed to the local mall to spend some time out.

I will post several more pictures in my Yahoo album soon, but as of now, I leave you with my favorite snap of this holiday:

Merry Christmas! Frohe Weihnachten!

And the angel said to them, "Be not afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy which will come to all the people; for to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord."—Luke 2:10-11

Glory to the new-born King! Christ is born in Bethlehem!

Hoy que recordamos la venida de Jesucristo, la familia Prabhu Bogarín les desea mucha paz, amor y alegría - ¡ FELIZ NAVIDAD !

Happy 'Nineth Month', Fabi!

Fabi turns nine months old on Christmas Eve!...

All geared up with his Santa suit...waiting for the seasons' celebrations to begin!...

Santa Baby!

This is the story of the Hatless Santa.



He didn't like hats, not even on his teddy.



There! That's better!



Oh, no! Not a hat on my head...!



I have to take it off!



Happy to have the hat off.



No hats for me, Thank you!



Not again!



Ich habe KEIN HUT gesagt!



That's better!



He, he! I'm the Hatless Santa!



Merry Christmas! Feliz Navidad! Frohe Weihnachten!

Is there a Doctor in the house?

Congratulations to our friend Vivek K. on his latest success: his PhD at the University of Erlangen.

He's a very hard working, intelligent guy who knows how to cook a good indian meal...I wish him and Nidhi many more sucesses and happiness in life!

Hey, Mr. DJ!...

I first 'met' DJ Sasha in Costa Rica (July 29th, 2000).
I even wore his t-shirt when I went to the Love Parade in Berlin, 2003.

The first year I was in India, DJ Sasha made his first visit to Mumbai. It was 2004 and I convinced Ishan that we had to go see him in action. We did...and we enjoyed!







This year DJ Sasha came to Mumbai again...but it was impossible for me to even think about going to his party because...well, I now dance to DJ Fabi's tunes. It's ok, though...I know I will meet DJSasha again in the future....and who knows? Maybe even Fabi will come along with me!!!...




Speaking of the Love Parade, this picture was taken in Berlin in 2003, which was the last Love Parade until now. We're still waiting to see if in the following days a Love Parade for 2006 will be announced. If so, well...I'll have another reason for wanting to go to Germany next year: techno and soccer, what a great combination!

Fabi celebrates his paternal grandfather's B-Day!

Happy 60th birthday, Papa!









Updated to say:

The family got together to celebrate this very special
birthday. My Yahoo Album no. 24 shows the happy times!

Model baby

Do you think this picture is Anne Geddes material?

All in a day's work

Ever since Fabi was born he has worn cloth diapers. This is a common practice in India and in fact, babies don't wear diapers.



However, every once in a while I indulge in 'the convenience' of disposable diapers. It's a good thing I had packaging tape at hand the day one of the straps tore.


Here is Fabi modelling his new look in his new play pen (I like to call it 'baby jail').
This model has an attachment so that it can be converted in a crib.


Speaking of parenting techniques in India: it's common for babies
to sleep in a 'family bed', i.e. with their parents.




That may have some advantages (especially in the early months, when the baby wakes up several times during the night), but I have decided that Fabi is a big boy now and can enjoy sleeping in his own crib.

Sports News

Two good reasons to celebrate in sports today:

Costa Rica has the honor of playing against the german host of the 2006 FIFA World Cup. Isn’t it great? How often does a country get this chance? Oh! How I wish I could be in Munich on June 9, 2006! I got the soccer fever already!…

And…since I’m in India and cricket is THE sport of this nation, I also have to share with you the record breaking news of Sachin Tendulkar.

I don’t know much about cricket but this star player has his own restaurant in Narang house, near Taj hotel, Colaba – Mumbai. I’ve been there a couple of times: the food is great and there’s a very nice section for kids too! The theme of the place is obviously cricket. I brought home the coaster where the glass of my mocktail was placed: it reminded me of my friend Saher who was the first one to tell me the definition of the word ‘googly’.

















Updated to say: Eventhough cricket is the favorite sport in India....the national sport is hockey.

Happy 'Eighth Month', Fabi!

A couple of weeks ago, Fabi celebrated his 8th month.



Check out the sequence of pictures in the album 'Gaurang Fabian's first year' by clicking on the 'My photos' link.

Back in da game!

I'm back with a new hard disk and a new broadband Internet connection!....I still have to configure my 'new' computer, but at least I'm not isolated from the rest of the world anymore!

To be honest, i'ts been 4 days since I've been trying to post and I have not had the time to do it. Fabian is keeping me REALLY busy these days....maybe his naps are shorter? I don't know...but I've made a plan to organize myself by next weekend so that I can continue my regular posts.

I have SO much to write about!

Thanks to all those who have been checking my blog and waiting for my comeback!