The itch to write

  Name: Crystal Mangalathu Location: U.K   Managing p regnancy and p ostpartum during the p andemic away from home is a roller coaster ride. In this post Crystal talks to us about her journey in the year 2020.   Enya was born on 7/10/2020 at 7:10am Pregnancy   1.     Being Away from home + The Pandemic -- Who was there to support you during your Pregnancy and Post-Partum journey?   When we found out we were pregnant in 2020, the world had taken a 360 degree turn with the lockdowns, panic buying, and getting accustomed to the “new normal” of staying home. During that time, I have never been more grateful for the technology; I used to video-call my sister (Greta) almost every day. She has virtually seen me grow physically, grow tired/ angsty, and has listened to me complain endlessly.   Besides that, one of my closest friends, Aparna had given birth in 2019. She was my go-to person regarding all my doubts and worries on parenthood. She still continues to be!   2

  Name: Bittu Jacob Owner of Baked for you by Bittu   1. Why did you pursue baking as career?   During my school days I enjoyed baking with my ‘Amma’. After getting married I used to bake occasionally at home and when we had guests at home.   On my son’s 5 th   birthday, I decided to make a fire truck shaped fondant cake. It was my very first attempt baking a fondant cake from scratch. When my family saw the cake they were quite impressed. To be honest the cake tasted lovely but it was not like those very neat fondant cakes . My family encouraged me to level up my skill by attending cake décor classes.       So I attended a class and learned the basics of cake decoration. Even at that point of time I never thought of taking this up professionally. That same year (2016) in the month of December my Appa asked me to bake 10 cakes to gift his friends. I was nervous about this but my Appa had full confidence in me. He convinced me to go ahead with it. And Guess what? It

Last year Me and Rohit stayed up till 3 am to make this cake so that we could surprise Ryan in the morning. It was his 4 th birthday. Ryan loves cakes, birthdays ,decorations and we decided to do it all. It was a quiet celebration with just the three of us but we wanted the grand party feels. It was worth the effort because he loved it. My heart goes out to all the kids who are unable to have their grandparents/cousins and friends over for birthdays due to the Corona scare. I so wish this pandemic would just end.     I made Prawns Biriyani for lunch because Ryan is a "biriyani boy". We sometimes even call him that. But that day he was exhausted with all the video calls and wishes he has been getting throughout the day that he didn't really eat much of the biriyani.   I took the effort because it was his birthday but if it was any other day, I would have made some Kanji and payar and chilled. Ryan pondering about whether he should attack the cake because it looks like