The Dunmore House

Situated in a little lane at Nallurahalli (off Siddhapura, near the Shell petrol bunk towards Whitefield), the Dunmore House is a beautiful little place. It is a wonderful bungalow, with the best part of it being a lot of natural light coming in. The ceilings are high which makes the place cool at any time of the day. They have a small garden area and a pond within the house, surrounded by pillars and a platform that people can sit on. There is a wooden swing and a trampoline on the platform. The Trampoline is the kids' favorite. They just love to climb onto it and jump! This area surrounding the little garden is where the kids have their snack, on little tables and chairs. The garden has a narrow beam on which the kids learn to balance without hurting themselves, a little tunnel made of four animals with their mouths wide open, that the kids can crawl through. This is undoubtedly the most attractive of all the areas in the house.

There is another quaint little place in the house which allows a lot of sunshine to come in. It is like a small room, with a slanting glass roof. There are small beanbags placed here for kids to sit on and do any activity that they like. A small aquarium with around 9 colorful fishes swimming around is another attraction for the kids. There are two hall like areas which have a variety play things for children. They have little scooters, a roller coaster, a soft ball tub, a little house through which the child can crawl in and out. Some of the self-learning stuff include:

1. Wooden boards which have animals, modes of transport, sea-creatures etc. which fit back into the shapes of the board. 

2. Socks that are hung about with each sock holding an alphabet. 

3. Lots of building blocks, colorful rings which fit back into their pillar.

4. Varieties of trucks, and even a little washing machine!!

There is a huge garden (yes, apart from the little one within the house), which has a lot of play things designed especially for kids. And of course, the main attraction here is - a lot of white sand which has been thrown  in for kids to play. Trucks and trowels, spades, and buckets are provided for the kids to dig and play around with the mud.  

The concept that the teachers who run this play follow is - they let the child be his natural self. He / she is allowed to roam around and choose any area or toy that he likes or wants to do at a particular moment. He is not forced into doing anything, which is a major plus for the child. Till the child gets adjusted, one teacher is assigned to the child, who sits with the child through out his two hours everyday, and helps him get adjusted to the place. So the transition for the children becomes a cake-walk. The parents can spend a week or two with the child at the school to make sure he settles in. This gives the parent also an insight into the school and how they deal with children. 

There will of-course be a lot of challenges, what with more children joining in, and different batches being decided on, but The Dunmore House, and Vandana and Shahista, are doing a great job at present! I wish them success in this wonderful new venture. Way to go guys.

Potthi canteen

The family (about 10 of us) made this trip down South. One of the stops was Thenkasi, to visit the Kaashi Vishwanathar kovil. Right opposite to the temple, was this little idli kadai called the Pothi canteen. What a discovery it turned out to be! We landed at this modest little kadai almost every morning to devour their soft idlis and awsome vadais and of course not to be left out - strong filter coffee. And you can be rest assured that the stuff was soft on the tummy too.

One particular day, we were so involved in eating the idlis, that we lost count of how many idlis and vadais each one of us had, and found that we ended up paying a lot more that what we ate for. However, no complaints since it was all absolutely worth it! With the amount of crowd that the guys who run the place had to manage, it generally gets tough for them to count exactly what people eat, and hence they end up doing an approximation. So the next time on, we sincerely kept count of what all we ate, and compared numbers with the shopkeeper, before we paid him the amount.

Unbelievable how such simple dishes as these could pull an audience so large every single day. Hats off to the Pothi canteen and the people who ran it.

On the same lines, a note about Ananda Bhavan, in a lane next to this Pothi canteen. They were famous around that area for the varieties of dosais they served. My favourite here was the Podi roast. HOT to the core, and simply wonderful to taste, when finished up with a strong dose coffee, what more can one ask for. Those who can't take too much spice, please stay away from this particular speciality. :)