#MissionMommy
#MissionMommy

Happy Mother’s Day everyone! I hope you’re spending today doing something special with your mom (and of course have entered all our #MissionMommy contests on the side.) Last week my sister and I decided to put #MissionMommy into effect and surprise our own mom in Delhi with a day packed full of her favorite things! Here’s how it went and I hope this inspires you to get off the Net and take your mom out tonight! xoxo

Sis and Mom
Sis and Mom

First up I didn’t tell her I was coming to Delhi 🙂 my sister was there on work and made up some story about a “friend” she was expecting so haha “gotcha” mom! Then we whisked her off to do a few of her/our favorite things! And remember, like Arjun Rampal even said, mom’s are the easiest! All they want is your time.

And Shopping, We Shall Go…

Since both my sister and I are major Anita Dongre addicts we figured we’d add my mom to the mix! We whisked her off at 11am and picked out this fabulous salwar kameez at the Chattarpur Mall. Major bonus being that my sister decided to also get me a sari and some shoes, woohoo!

Manjulika Agarwal at Anita Dongre
Manjulika Agarwal at Anita Dongre

Shoppers Stop.

You know that one person who is always proudest of all your achievements, cuts out every newspaper and magazine article and sits front and center at every show (video camera in hand) and brags to everyone about all of it with pride? Well my mom is my biggest champion and boy does it feel good! So we hopped into Shoppers Stop because you can hear Nadir Khan and I on their in-store radio 🙂

Shoppers Stop
Shoppers Stop

Mama Goto Lunch!

Seriously, you cannot make this stuff up! My Delhi peeps Diya Kapoor, Preeti Caberwal and a ton of people on Twitter all recommended Mamagoto for yum Asian food and very cute atmosphere.

Mamagoto
Mamagoto

Mamagoto delivered big time on both counts. Besides, who doesn’t love Pandas?

Mamagoto
Mamagoto

Foot Massage for Everyone!

I remember growing up, one of my mom’s favorite things to do was to get a foot massage. Who can blame her considering the four of us have kept her on her feet for 4 decades! So we stopped by Aroma Thai at Select Citywalk Mall in Sakete and blissed out for an hour. *Heaven* Thank you Sonny Caberwal for this awesome idea!

Aroma Thai
Aroma Thai

Big Fat Bollywood Movie Time.

I’m actually really impressed we managed fit this in, but I’d been hearing such good things about Vicky Donor that we figured why not? It turned out to be a really fun movie, with enough emo to keep everyone involved and a fresh breath of air with a new Bollywood cast. I didn’t even mind *sharing my popcorn!

Vicky Donor
Vicky Donor

*See, I hate to admit it but I have a genuine problem sharing my popcorn with anyone at the movies, even one kernel, I don’t know what it is but now to be safe I buy two, one for me and one for you to dig into.

Tea Break…

My mom loves tea-time and if yours likes quaint little cafes, then take her to Elma’s Tea Room in Hauz Khas Village, where you’ll get a yummy selection of teas, juices, cakes and sandwiches with the crusts cut off (just like mommy used to make!)

Elma's Tea Room
Elma’s Tea Room

In fact there are a ton of little boutique stores in the village now and we were particularly amused by this one. You know, being Marwari and all 🙂

Hauz Khas VIllage
Hauz Khas Village

The Kingdom of Dreams

But OMG, by far the highlight of #MissionMommy was this epic show we saw at Kingdom of Dreams in Gurgoan called Jhumroo. Much love to Himanshi Choudhry and Gaurav Gera for helping me buy tickets last minute and major props to Vikrant Pawar (my erstwhile jiving buddy!) for this magnificent musical delight!

Kingdom of Dreams
Kingdom of Dreams
Kingdom of Dreams
Kingdom of Dreams

The three-hour massive production features all of Kishore Kumar’s most-loved tunes and then some. The acting is upbeat and energetic and the comic timing flawless! Funnily enough we ended up sitting right next to Vinay Pathak and Shweta Gulati who is usually the star of the show on weekends! Unfortunately she had pulled a muscle and was out of commission so her understudy was filling in. (If you see the acrobatics all the actors get up to suspended in mid air via a harness, you’ll understand how that might have happened btw.)

Vinay Pathak and Shweta Gulati
Vinay Pathak and Shweta Gulati

And I won’t ruin it for you but even Sholay’s Gabbar and Thakur make a fly-by night appearance which is hilarious 🙂 Now I have to go back and watch their afternoon production called Zangoora (starring Gauhar Khan) sometime!

I kid you not, the whole Kingdom is something dreams are made of! From the mouth-watering Culture Gully (with a charming false painted sky so it’s always daytime inside) to the brilliant Broadway grandeur of the musical productions, I’m so proud to say we finally have the beginnings of our own little Bollywood-esque Disneyland.

Kingdom of Dreams
Kingdom of Dreams

Seriously if you live in Delhi or happen to be visiting, do not miss this experience. It’s stunning and SO much fun especially if you know the words to some of those old Kishore Kumar songs! 🙂

PS. Remember, none of these things need to be restricted to a Mother’s Day extravaganza. My sister and I have decided for instance, to come up with something creative to do with our mom each month (just like she spent years planning each day for us!) Feel free to post your suggestions in the comments below…

I Love You Mom, #MissionMommy No.2 coming soon 🙂 xoxo