Indian Passport Renewal from USA - A Step by Step Guide [Feb-2026]

This post is intended as working guide for renewing Indian Passport while you are overseas. I had relied extensively on NRI sub-reddit, besides web searches & ChatGPT, and this is my attempt to document what worked for me and possible help someone else. Do note that the process and portal may change over time and hence this experience is valid as of February 2026. Moreover, my experience was renewing Passport for my minor children in USA where no personal details were changed.

1. Decide: will you apply by mail or by in-person appointment?
1. Mail application costs shipping, transit related delays, and potential back and forth if there is any missing document. I chose this route since the nearest appointment center for me was 6 hours away.
2. In-person application costs travel time, appointment related delays, but you may be able to clarify completeness of documentation directly. Since I did not choose this route, I don't have further information here.
2. Decide: will you apply regular or Tatkal? Tatkal has $150 as additional fee but overall service time is typically under 2 weeks, unlike 4-8 weeks for Regular. If you have 4 or more months of buffer in your Passport expiry and travel plans (including US domestic travel if you don't have Real ID), then you can go for Regular. Some people prefer Tatkal due to mental peace of not having to stay in without Passport for long and uncertainty in renewal timelines.
3. Find out exact address of Consulate state of your residential address falls in. Consulate have designated zones by State.
4. Go to VFS Global portal and select right tab for applying by mail or appointment, and then login at the Ministry of External Affairs website for filling in application form.
1. Select the right type e.g. validity expired or expiry, damaged or not, etc. For kids under fifteen years of age, new passport will be for 5 year's validity.
2. One of the address required in application must be Indian, with India phone number, and other must be in US, with US phone number.
1. If Indian address is changing from old passport, then Indian address proof is required.
2. If you don't have address proof in India, address proof of a close relative and proof of your relation to that relative may suffice. But actual acceptance of proof depends on local police who will do verification.
3. US address proof is always required for US address.
4. There is going to be police verification at Indian address under all scenarios. However, since my renewal was for minor kids, there was no police verification, though I didn't know that beforehand and shared all the documents.
3. You can decide to have either Indian or US address printed on the Passport. I decided to have US address printed.
5. Once you submit the application, click on three-dot menu to upload your digital copy of eligible photo.
1. Photo must have a white background, front facing, 80-85% area coverage by face, eyes open, mouth closed, straight facing, no glasses, hair combed, dark shirt, no shadow or reflections, and no blur.
2. You can take from home if you are comfortable, or through Staple/Walgreens/etc. One digital and One physical copy is required. External providers may charge $20-$30. You don't need white background if you are taking from home as that can be cleared in the post processing.
3. Physical photo's size must be 35 x 45 mm. You can size and overlay multiple copies and print single 4x6 inch which will come out cheaper, and then cut at home.
4. Digital photos must be under 250 kb, jpeg/jpg file, sized to 630 x 810 px.
5. Use MS Paint or other photo editor to make background white, resize to required pixels, and reduce file size, if needed. Online tools like resizepixel.com may also help.
6. Rename the file without any special characters, with right file extension.
7. Step by step working instructions are available on VFS portal at this (pdf) link.
6. Similarly, you need to sign of a white piece of paper with blue or black ball-point pen, take picture (no blur), crop the signature into a rectangle box, and upload. File size under 250kb, white colour, and jpeg/jpg file, with names without special characters.
7. Find the right set of documents as specified in the checklist for your scenario.
1. Take all printouts and photocopies on Letter size paper, single-sided, colour copies.
2. Annexure D, Annexure E, Affidavit of Change of appearance are required documents for all cases. Other documents may depend on case by case basis.
3. Physical photo to be pasted (glued, not stapled) on Affidavit of Change of appearance.
4. For evidence of Visa, I submitted copy of passport with Visa page.
5. For proof of address, I submitted front & back copies of US driving license (on same page) for father, mother, and US State ID for child.
6. For children, the copy of birth certificate is also required.
7. While it was not explicitly required, I submitted proof of address of Indian relative and evidence of child's relation, via set of copies of Adhaar cards. I wrote the relation on margin of the photocopy.
8. While it' not mentioned in all cases, I had all relevant document self-attested by relevant people e.g. mother/father/child did sign on their respective documents, except those which were Notarized.
8. Notarize the documents as required.
1. At minimum, Annexure D and Proof of Visa are required to be Notarized. Affidavit of change of appearance is required in some cases, and may be Notarized just to be safe.
2. You can find Notary on interest services, or UPS, or through your bank (often, Credit Unions do for free), with rate $5-$10 per page.
3. In my case, I had Visa for father, mother, and child all Notarized.
9. Create account at VFS website and 'add customer' with required ARN, Passport and other details. Select right passport type and pay the fee online. Passport and application type must match application filled at Ministry portal.
10. You have the option to buy onward shipping from them, with $32 one-way cost. Return shipping is free with USPS and part of the fee. Alternatively, you can buy your own UPS, or USPS shipping labels.
1. Some websites claim that FedEx shipping is not accepted, but I can't verify.
2. I used USPS shipping. You can use "Click-and-Ship" on usps.com to buy shipping labels. Preferable to have Priority or higher shipping. I used padded flat rate Priority at about $12 per label each way.
3. Ensure to use correct "From" and "To" address on shipping label on both side. Your name & address must match what is provided as US Address in the application, specially on the return label.
4. You can get free envelopes showing your pre-paid labels at any USPS office. You are not required to provide return envelope but I sent one anyway though they did not use mine. They returned in their own padded envelope with my return shipping label.
5. Each passport application needs separate shipping label and envelopes.
6. Write on outside of envelope as prescribed, e.g. "Re-issue of Passport - Minor" in my case.
11. Collect all documents. Do no staple or glue but keep all documents as loose paper.
1. Include printout of checklist as the first thing in the set, ticking all documents included or not, along with your comments if you like.
2. Include all documents in the order listed on checklist, starting with application, and ending with receipt of the fee payment and return shipping label (if purchased).
12. Add original Passport. Some people advised to put a post-it sticker on the Passport marking "do not staple valid visa" on Visa page and on top of the Passport.
13. Some people advised to put one extra physical photo in a small transparent pouch just in case. I sent one additional 35x45 mm photo, beside what was pasted on the Affidavit of Change of Appearance. I don't know if it was used or not.
14. Ship all the documents. Delivery may take 1-7 days depending on your shipping and distance. Once delivered, you will get email with "received" status from VFS office within about 5-7 days.
15. If documents are found to be deficient, you will get emails to send additional or corrected documents. Else your application will be forwarded to Embassy for processing after 3-7 days.
16. Embassy will initiated police verification and your Indian contact will get phone call. Document required for verification vary by local police but typically Adhaar card of Indian contact is required among other things. This step may take 4-6 weeks.
17. Once verified, you will get email notification from VFS for return shipping.
18. You will received cancelled old passport and new passport in mail in couple of days. No other documents or extra photos were returned.

Weight loss with low carb diet, or How I lost 15 kgs in 15 months

I've always struggled with mild overweight. It's nothing to worry about, but I've been pushing 24-25 BMI for most of my life. While I have always had a strong understanding of the theory of nutrition and theory of exercising - something which is part of my scientific and rational way of thinking - I struggled to put them in practice. For instance, I have tried and given up on more exercise regimes then I can remember in the last 20 years. Of course, I also know that while exercise is awesome for your health and must for your body, it's not a solution for weight loss. Nutrition it is.

And like everyone I knew the basics - avoid sugar, fried stuff, packaged food, more vegetables, etc. I just had difficulty sticking to a routine. I have been averse to fad diets and wanted to take a moderate and slow approach towards better health, hence I was focusing on "reduce" rather than "avoid" for all the bad stuff. Unfortunately for my temperament, reduce just didn't work, since there was no intuitive measure of how much is enough or when to stop. Avoid turned out to be better since that forces black and white distinction. Long story short, I began hearing about low carb and low dairy diets for the last 3-4 years and after looking into multiple scientific research into and consistent anecdotal evidence, I decided to look into the Keto diet. It quickly dawned to me that Keto is not just suitable or feasible for vegetarians. I modified this to low carb, low dairy version for me, and after sifting through my notes and reading created by diet program.

Results? I lost about 15 kilograms in 15 months straight as the weight chart below shows. I wasn't starving, I wasn't going hungry, but I watched what I ate and results gave the confidence to say no to candy or ice cream or pizza which tempted me. My customary before-and-after pictures show some change, albeit not as drastic as before-and-after pictures are wont to do, but the change was visible and noticeable by family and friends alike. In fact, slight uptick you see on weight graph is intentional as I felt it's going too low for my preference. I was content to be around BMI 18-20.

My weight loss journey for the last 6 years, and drastic loss in last 1 year

Before (Oct 2018) and After (Mar 2020) - from 78 kgs to 65 kgs

Here is my diet plan

Main principles

• Avoid junk food, processed food, packaged food
• Minimize refined/white sugar as much as possible, including honey
• Increase portions of nuts, vegetables, and fibers in the diet
• Reduce carbohydrate intake, specially avoid bad kind of carbohydrate during dinners
• Reduce milk intake as much as possible, limit to buttermilk, curd, and paneer wherever possible
• Increase protein intake significantly
• Eat very healthy breakfast, in a small portion, or skip the breakfast altogether and don't eat till noon
• Eat moderate portions during lunch
• Eat light dinner, and do not eat anything after 8pm
• Take fixed portions in the plate, and don't go for second serving
• Chew slowly, enjoy the food, avoid distractions
• Drink lots of water, about 4-6 liters daily
• Keep 3-4 hours gap before mealtime and bedtime

Good kind of Fat & Protein

Walnut, Almond, Peanut, Chickpeas, Flaxseeds, Paneer, Cheese, Tofu, Mushroom, Lentils/Daal, Pumpkin seeds, Soy chunks, Sprouts, Clarified butter/Ghee, Coconut/Olive/Peanut oil

Good kind of Carbohydrate

Sweet potatoes, Brown rice, Oats, Corn flex, Millets, Lentils/Daal, Sprouts, Banana, Broken Wheat/Daliya

Good Vegetables

All kinds are good but Avocado, Brocolli, Carrots, Green peas, Lemon, Guava, Gooseberry/Amla, Beetroot, Spinach, Lettuce, Cucumber, Tomato, Capsicum, Brinjal are better

Things you can drink

Green tea, Lemon juice, Curd

Things you can eat A LOT

Paneer, Cheese, Soy chunks, Peanuts, Peanut butter, Almond, Walnut, Flaxseeds, Mushroom, Tofu, Avocado, Brocolli, Lettuce, Chickpea, Green pea, Spinach, Pumpkin seeds, Cucumber, Tomato, Capsicum, Brinjal

Things you can eat A LITTLE

Sweet Potato, Banana,  Coconut, Brown rice, Oats, Corn flex, Lentils/Daal, Broken Wheat/Daliya

Taking all this together, here is what my day looked like:

Breakfast - skip or small fruit or small portion from Good Carbohydrate list

Lunch - 2 roti, 2-3 bowls vegetable curry, (if you want to taste anything else, take 1 teaspoon only)

Mid-day - dry fruits, small fruit, 2-3 cups of coffee (coffee is not advisable)

Dinner - Sprouts, or Soy chunk, or Salads, or grilled Vegetables, or Paneer, or Peanuts

And trust me, your body will adapt to this. This may look like meagre diet but I never felt hungry. Any pangs were soothed by a handful of sprouts/peanuts which are both filling and incredibly tasty. I discovered 3-4 ways to cook sprouts in the process.

Vedika - Day 784

Vidhi understands that she has many names. She responds to them well. She connects Vidhudi to Chachu. Vedika Gupta to formal name when asked by stranger. And more. Her emphasis on Vedika Gupta, not yet uttered clearly enough to let stranger understand completely, is absolutely adorable.

As her vocabulary increases, she often corrects us. Having forgotten teaching her, we sometimes slip in something simpler for more complicated word, giving her opportunity to correct us. And her correction takes always the form: <full wrong phrase> NOoooo, <full right phrase>. For example, when inquired about whereabouts of her Chacha by her, we may respond that he has gone out. She quickly chimes, "chacha gone out, No..., chacha gone to gym". As she has started talking, her voice and dialogues are source of surprise and joy, and worthy of recording for preservation. We have not found a quick way to record her utterances, unlike quick video shooting by phone. Unfortunately, she has become conscience of videographing, and immediately stops whatever she is doing and demands to be shown what is being captured.

In a new twist — which her mother finds corruption of her English grammar, and I find sign of her ability of go beyond specified words and understand deep context — she has started making-up fake words. Specifically, fake verbs. She announced other day that she is "office kaaming" when pretend working her mother's laptop. Looking at cats sleep, she said that they were "needing". When her toys fall down, she rues that they are "bumbing." She has, for reasons unknown, also started adding "only" to end of each setence. We worry her deviation from grammatically English to Indian English! Her most common sentence these days is: "They are bumbing only!".

She has picked up names of most vegetables, fruits, letters, numbers, days of the week, months of year, seasons, opposites, and shapes by now. She has even started recognizing letters in written form even when presented out of sequence. Her favourite, now, being letter A. Her understanding doesn't disassociate 'A' from 'Apple' now. So, as she spots an A, on keyboard often, but also in newspaper, she shouts that there is Apple there.

Her sentence structure of some of common phrases brings out hilarity. As perhaps mentioned earlier, she declared few weeks ago that vidhi ke ghar main to daadi bhi hai as way of saying that there is dadi in the house. Yesterday, she went on sing-song about vidhi bhi su-su karti hai, chacha bhi su-su karte hai, papa bhi...you get the drift.

In playgrounds, I find her silent and non-interactive. She is timid, and doesn't reach out to, nor responds when reached out to by, other children. She prefers going one round on each of two identical but different coloured swings and see-saws. She avoids slides, for reasons unknown. I want her to run and do bit of body movement, which she avoids. If, and when, she runs, it is hilarious with her both arms raised and bent at elbows, whole body shaking.

Her nightly tantrums are still ongoing. She not only wants things to be done in certain very very precise way to her, but also wants you to align yourself to her precise specifications. That means direction of sleep, where your body parts lie, speed of fan, presence and location of her soft toys, and whether or not you use blanket. She instruct once, and then cries till her demands are met. Which are often, but when not, can lead her to cry for hours, and then fall asleep sobbing. This happening every night is naturally source of huge annoyance to her mother and I. Once in a while she would get a slap for it. That is more of outlet of our frustrating demeanor rather than any step towards solution. And solution, most of the nights, is none, for it feels that she wants to cry.

Vedika - Day 754

When Vidhi visited her Mama's house in Hyderabad early this year, she heard her mom being addressed by her name, Radhika, by her elder brother and mother, who are, Vidhi's Mama and Nani respectively. Quick to pick anything new, she has taken on to call her mom Radhika and Radhika Mummy, apart from Mummy. And she does take on more assertive tone with name when she has to call her mummy second time or more. Which kind of makes sense. But is very odd to hear, and extremely difficulty to get rid of.

In Vidhi's world, each object, person, activity, emotion is a fully fledged entity. It appears that she understands that her doll is not exactly same kind of friend to her as are her classmates at Day Care. But then, sometimes, as adult you find that perhaps that's not true. In her world, her plastic dog feel hungry when she does, demands milk, requires petting and hugging, and gets tired. She requests, often, to feed her toys/furniture and ascribes other anthropomorphic qualities to them.

Her obsession with Lakdi ki Kathi was talk of the house. Well, everything she does is talk of the house, but this obsession went a level higher. She would demand and listen to this song for hours at end. She would dance in circle as in the song. She would notice a flicker of Teddy Bear near the end of song and point it out to us. She would make hand gestures to mimic tiny Urmila Matondkar. So, of course, as doting parents we decided to find out where to acquire one for her. We knew that that can be bought from Channapatna, a toy town, about an hour's drive from Bangalore. But we wanted to find something in town. Two local hangouts were found wanting, and once we rejected because she swung so much that we felt that she would fall off the horse. In the end, we bought one when we visited Bannerghatta National Park with her bua Khushboo Gupta. As anti-climax go, her fanaticism has subsequently tapered off quite a bit. Lakdi ki Kathi is neither as much demanded on video nor actually played with.

Vedika - Day 751

Having trained her to use appropriate words for relieving herself, we decided that may be now is time for her to sit by herself on commode. So we got this.

In the shop, we wanted to ensure that size fits her well, and we asked her to sit on it, while kept on floor. Later, at home, having recalled seeing swimmers use ring floaters to swim, and her own experience of being asked to sit in center, Vidhi decided that it is her ring floater!

She, announced to our amazement how she will swim in this. When her Chacha decided to give the potty seat a try on real potty, she followed, saw, screamed and snatched this from his hand. Her words, "udhar mat rakho, ganda ho jaayega." Hilarity ensues!

Vedika - Day 650

Over course of time, these posts will change their tones. Dear Vidhi, sometimes I write these in your tone, since this is supposedly your journal. Sometimes, I write as your father. Today I am writing as later.

Of course sacrifices of mothers are all well known and need no elaboration. But they must still be acknowledged. Your mom Radhika Gupta has done a lot for you in last 21 months you have been with us. There is no example in far and wide, neither among friends and relatives, nor among colleagues and neighbours, for a working mother who is able to take care of young infant along with house, husband and job.

Yes, she had help. Her job is, so far, amenable to work from home, a privilege denied to many. She has an 8 hour helper maid, which you may or may not recall/remember with fondness. Yet she also has a job which requires time and commitment like any other jobs. She also has series of maids which need to be supervised and chaperoned and trained. She also has to cook. And, of course, she has you.

You, who is not easily accustomed to new touch. You, who still cannot live or sleep with your papa or chacha. You, who yet cannot entertain by yourself. You, who needs constant attention and supervision. You, who still requires hours to feed. And you, who still cannot sleep uninterrupted at night. This is not litany of complaints about you. After all, you are you. And you are a baby.

But what this has meant is that there is a not a moment of time for your mom, for herself. Her nightly sleeps are interrupted in your unconsolable nonchalant cries for hours. Her mornings are disturbed by a late or absent maid, and who must abandon her office work to feed, bath and entertain you. Her day is spent trying to work yet keep you company. Her evenings stretch coping up with work which could not be completed in day time, and who must also attend to you after maid has left. Her business calls are filled with screams of baby Vedika trying to claim her mom back. And who must often take phone calls with you on her lap, or run software programs with you on her back. Not a moment can be wasted on personal items and TV and entertainment are at sole mercy of your Highness.

She did so and she will do so. But you must remember this, for what she is doing, hasn't been done by too many.

----

A nice poem I found on internet...

Slow down mummy, there is no need to rush,

Slow down mummy, what is all the fuss?

Slow down mummy, make yourself a cup tea.

Slow down mummy, come and spend some time with me.

Slow down mummy, let's put our boots on and go out for a walk,

Let's kick at piles of leaves, and smile and laugh and talk.

Slow down mummy, you look ever so tired,

Come sit and snuggle under the duvet and rest with me a while.

Slow down mummy, those dirty dishes can wait,

Slow down mummy, let's have some fun, let's bake a cake!

Slow down mummy I know you work a lot,

But sometimes mummy, its nice when you just stop.

Sit with us a minute, and listen to our day,

Spend a cherished moment, because our childhood is not here to stay!

Vedika - Day 649

These days Vedika is absolutely adorable. Unless she is crying. And she still does, waking up suddenly in night, reciting unknowable phrases, and indicating perhaps, though one cannot be sure, signs of nightmares.

Her vocabulary is expanding at rapid rate. Her knowledge has moved from nouns to colours and shapes. She understands equivalence of Hindi and English words referring to same object and action. We had feared her lack of understanding colours which is quickly disappearing. She has gotten decent grasp on vegetables and fruits. And while she still cannot, naturally, carry out conversation in any specific domain, her word repertoire is enough to carry out regular conversation to all extent of daily life.

Her imagination is seeing signs of ripening for she can discern patterns of animals in shadows and dirt marks. She can mimic her mom's cooking with grass, stone and dirt as ingredients. She can recite counting from one to fifteen, alphabets from A to Z, and all seven days of week. Often times she does this subconsciously for when asked, she falters. She has great memories of all the rhymes which we played to her over the years. She can sing along fully to Johny Johny, Twinkle Twinkle, ABCD song, and few others. She has developed preference for Teletubbies too and while it's not sure if she understands anything other than Twinky-winky, Dipsee, Lala, Pooh she does recite and delights in these names.

She has matured a little to be managed by her papa and chacha for hours as long as she is paid full attention to. She plays, demands action (swings on legs, or horse-riding), and teases. Her shoulders half hunched, eyes sparkling, hands raised, ready to dhappi is often her favourite way of sneaking at our back or reaching out to us. She still doesn't understand concept of hide-and-seek and while she can find someone who is hidden, when asked to hide, remains obviously visible and near the seeker.

She has developed a new style of hand twisting, sign of her early dance moves, which she repeats when excited. On recent birthday of her Chacha, she was the one who blew candles. Four times. She seem to love this!

Vedika was fond of brushing her teeth from day one. She still is. We've got her an small toothbrush. She demands toothpaste too, though dentist recommended fluoride free toothpaste for kids, we cannot find any, and we give her a sliver of regular one. She must participate in any tooth brushing session, morning or evening. Currently, she just eats her toothpaste but still does all the regular motions. As touchy as she is in any other matter, you can freely take her toothbrush and brush her teeth yourself, and she'll let you do it. She tries to spit but cannot and having drunk toothpaste and water, just spits out her spit.

She has become absolutely choosy about clothes she wants to wear. There isn't any pattern though, and it appears primarily to be driven by her desire to not wear anything. She runs about when robing or disrobing her. And if her mind is set of not wearing a baniyaan or frock then God have mercy. Her tiny naked frame running around avoiding clothing is a sight to see.

Vedika - Day 602

I've become lax in updating this journal. I could blame that I didn't receive response that I (foolishly) had hoped for. Let alone contributing, no one is even reading this thought. But I am trying to keep it up, until I cannot. For you. My dear daughter you: Vedika.

You have gone to your Mama's place in Hyderabad after Diwali. You met your Nana-Nani and Nitya didi. I hear your mom tell you that you are enjoying playing with her. I am glad you found a playmate. I hear your mom also tell that you are as fuzzy about going to your near and dear ones as you ever were. We hope that one day you will not be so. Family is important. People who love you are most important. And they won't love you always unconditionally. You are kid now, so they do, enjoy while it lasts. Expectations can be tough.

Your one act brings hilarity to mind often. On day of Diwali, after Puja, everyone was touching feet of everyone else. At some point, you decided that's the thing to do. So you bent and touched feet of your mother. I didn't notice, for when you came for me, I started walking away. When I did, I saw you crawling floor on your hands and knees following me to touch my feet. It was funny and sad. Sorry beta. I love you too.

I heard your voice on first time, since you started speaking, on phone now. You are loud. And clear. And only because of your vocabulary and because I know, I can say it's you. Else you cannot be known to be infant. And you shout a lot, even when you are not crying.

It was your second Diwali. I don't think anything remarkable happened. We thought you'd love firecrackers. You didn't show signs of either love or hate. But you didn't like to watch too, for when you have been watching and hearing lights and sounds for half-an-hour, you asked, calmly and not demanding, to go home. You tilted your head on side and said 'ok' and 'done'. Absolutely cute.

You mimic things. A lot. Everything. Laughing, yawning, popping food, bubble wrap, head massage, everything. We have to be careful. You want things done just the right way. Head massage has to happen when sitting on ground when mom is on bed, not on lap, not you on bed. You have to have your ducks near you when you poop. Simple demands of simple life.

I am missing you. I love you.

Vedika - Day 582

"Aa gaya" and "chala gaya" define recurring themes of words Vidhi uses these days. Every person and object gets its presence announced by "aa gaya" and absence by "chala gaya", be it papa, chacha, mummy, aunty, ant, cow, or airplane. She would randomly call out things like cow or airplane, and when asked where, will simply say "chala gaya".

Aeroplanes are her favourite in-thing these days. Even a sound of passing plane will have her running to nearest member shouting 'aeroplan' and demanding to be taken to balcony to see it. Even when she is sleeping or drowsy, mention of very word in communication will have her alert and ready to run. She understand "aeroplane wings" as additional component, thanks to her Mom, and will actively point them out to us.

Vidhi is showing signs of becoming the grown up person she will be, at least till puberty hits her. She understands the context and meaning of 'shh' and talking in whispers. When she is made to sleep at night, she is at her playful best, with peek-a-boo within the sheets and talking in whisper lest mom hears her. Radhika is annoyed by my such attempts as this distracts from environment of absolute silence that must be created for Vidhi to fall asleep but it feels like such a fun time between father and daughter against mother.

Today she tried to do an absolute adorable thing. I had laid out photocopy of my PAN card on A4 paper and she tried to pick PAN card only, obviously to fail, repeatedly, not realizing that it's an image over larger white paper and not an separate object.

Vidhi visited Mysore Dassera prior weekend - the one where I lost my iPhone 4s - and enjoyed parts of morning in the zoo. Possibly not as much as I had hoped because enclosure of zoo kept most animals quite far from her and vision was short. She fell asleep in the middle of rounds.

Vedika - Day 514

Today she came with broom and dirt hopper in full pretence of cleaning.

When I tried to blow her inflatable plastic hammer, instead of using it to "bumm" our heads, she mimicked (tried?) blowing up toy herself. So cute.

She now mimics God's Puja by moving her arms around and chiming bell in her hand chanting something which sounds like "om bhoor bua swaha."

Vedika - Day 500

Vidhi can now kiss you back without you forcing her lips to your cheeks. She understands instructions and makes the right sound of kissing. She even kissed her mother without being asked to. She shows more affection to her Teddy Bear than she does to people around her.

"Happy ... To You" is her version of famous birthday song.

Vedika - Day 479

Many notes...

We've arrived at Vidhi's "Nani House" (as her mom puts it to her) yesterday. They have stairways running between ground and first floor. Vidhi's must-be-close-to-mummy-at-any-cost nature almost had her falling down the all twelve steps, but for last second hand holding by her papa. Heart leaped to throat and prayers rushed to lips. Someone once said, "I thought I loved my wife a lot, but for my baby, I will willing throw her under the bus without even flinching," on Quora. I don't think I am there yet (should I even be?) but I am on the way, and incidents like yesterday's just highlight the delicate nature of this relationship.

Incremental words in Vidhi's vocabulary include more animals (hen, cow, crow, ant, fish, zebra, horse, butterfly), non-noun terms (open, close, hot, lift, yellow), relationship terms (chacha, nana, nani, kaka, kaki, dada, dadi, aunty, uncle), body parts (eyes, nose, tummy), and more household items (clock, spoon). She understands and can point to but cannot pronounce almost all major body parts (head, eyes, nose, mouth, teeth, cheeks, chin, tummy, hand, leg, fingers, toes). She refers her head as "bumm" as in head is bummed when her's hits something which is not unusual. She can promounce but doesn't understand few numbers like one, two, three, four, seven, nine.

Vidhi is walking like a pro now and likes to walk and run in large open spaces like garden, corridors, shopping mall, showrooms. She falls often, of course, but gets up quickly and without fuss. Things are more within her reach at home. She can be seen sneaking into kitchen, opening the snacks cupboard and munching whatever her hands could lay on. And she is junk food junkie! She is still very fussy eater of food and prefers limited diet of ragi, suzi, cerelac. Everything else must be often pureed in mixer and must be fed between running story and her favourite toons. She wouldn't eat even slightly spicy sabzi but will eagerly chew on indoori namkeen and kurkure. Her favourite vegetable is apparently lady-finger.

Vidhi got supply of new cartoons from her Mami. Brainy-Baby video of animals are her favourites. Words "dog" and "cat" always accompany "bow bow" and " meaw". She likes and asks for Vodafone's "zozo" ads.

Her mom and I have decided that if she (1) eats all regular food without fuss from anyone's hands, (2) goes to anyone and has fun without being clingy to her mom, then she will becomes the best-baby-in-the-world. She is smart (hows to throw stuff in dustbin, wipe after being wet, can fetch small objects, learns words super fast, observes and mimics) and just need to be sociable. Oh, she is grossly underweight but given everything else we'll let it slide.

Vidhi has ability to quickly impress people in first and short meetings. Given her mom is nearby, she doesn't cry much, is very active, speaks a lot, and generally comes across as nice kid. Her being youngest in her peer group helps that her infractions are excused. True colour is revealed at long exposure to Vidhi's tantrums. She cried her brains out when her mom went to toilet for total of one minute in train. This puts her mom under undue stress as she only needs to carry her (underweight but 8.5kg still), feed her, make her sleep, take her to toilet, bathe and change her, etc. And in some instances, Vidhi gets a mouthful, which she understands and either silences or erupts into sob.

Vedika - Day 401

Vidhi baby has a new craze these days. She is becoming attuned to animals around her — not counting her family.

She has developed uncanny ability to notice and call out to animals: when she is travelling in car, playing in park, standing in balcony, or even when she is inside house but hears a barking, tweeting, or mooing. Her favourites are pigeons, dog, and cows in that order. Influence of Mariaama has ensured that she associates Kannada word "ba" with "come to me" and starts stretching her arms and calling out series of "ba". She is absolutely adorable when she does this. And her eyes are sharp in picking out a lone flying pigeon far away on fourth floor even when you are left wondering how can she notice that. It's mild amusement and pity to see her face when her calls are unheeded and dog and pigeon don't come near her. Sometimes she would "ba" to an ant, housefly or a piece of lint too! Her imitation of animal sound is limited to "maa..." for all kinds of animals.

Vedika - Day 375

Vidhi's first vacation!

Baby darling visited Andaman islands along with her family for a week long trip - and came back tired and tanned! But to her credit, she had fun on beaches and let us have fun by not crying too much.

Vedika - Day 336

As almost an year old baby, Vidhi still wakes up frequently at nights. Her mom narrates her experience in dealing with Vidhi at baby center :

I can so relate to you, as i have also started working when my LO (Vedika) was 4 months old and she was/is bad one at sleep. Sleep depreviation is too overwhelming  for Mom-dad and its bad for Kiddo too.
Few things that i can advice you from my experience are
- Follow a schedule, which is driven by Baby themselves instead of ideal schedules you want them to follow.e.g. if everyday morning they go for a Nap at 10, give him all the environment to fall asleep that time.
- Nap time schedules should be maintained so that Kids will not get cranky because of lack of sleep. I observed if my Kiddo gets full and as per schedule sleep she wakes up to be a Happy and energytic one e.g. Vedika takes a Nap of approx  45 mins around 7 PM after coming from Play area.
- For night time sleep, you need to get started 2-3 hours before the Night time schedule of your kid to give his night time feed.
- My Kid sleeps at 11:30 PM daily, i know its on late side but this turnout to be her natural time to fall asleep. She becames so tired till that time that she can fall asleep in 10 mins and some times on her own.
- Earlier i used to make her fall asleep at 10 pm but that was in vain, she used to sleep at 10 then wakes up at 11 then used to take BF for like 30 mins to fall asleep again then again she used to wake up at 01:30 ish which was very frustating for me.
- Regarding Night time feed, i am giving her a heavy meal like rice, Khichdi around 7 PM after she comes from Play area, post which she falls asleep for a Nap.
- Then i give her heavy meal of Ceralac or Suji at 10 PM.
- Then milk at 11 pm.
- Turn off/dim baby's room light after milk,change her clothes or give message/bath, take her for Su-Su.
-Then i lay down on our Bed, giving her signal that play time is over and now its time to sleep. She rides all over me for 15 mins or so, then she gets cranky for 10 mins as she wants to sleep and missing the soothing touch of BF to fall asleep. But after 10 mins she sleeps on her own.
I pray to God all Kids get good night time sleep, it makes Parenting so much fun as Mom has all her energy to play and do activities with the Kid.

Vedika - Day 248

Vidhi has learned dexterity with fingers now. Her cutest task (recently) include gently tapping keys on keyboard of laptop.

Vidhi has demonstrated fascination with laptops early on. One reason could be ubiquitous use of them by her mom, dad and chachu all around. She would leap from arms of whoever is holding her to be able to touch the laptop. She would typically, until about two weeks ago, bang her palms and enjoy whatever pops up on the screen because of that. These days, though, she seems to be treating it with bit more respect. She'd still bang her palm on keyboard but after that gently tap few keys couple of times (as shown in picture) before lifting her hand and banging again. To aid to her merriment, we've given her an old non-working laptop (with blank screen shown in picture). She definitely likes to work with them!

Her improvement in object maneuvering is visible in others areas too. When pulling a toy behind a wire, she now knows to first move the wire aside, and then pull the toy. She has learned to lift and rotate larger objects too such as small plate or plastic bottle. She has recently started to enjoy the sound things make when banged together or against the floor.

Her bodily strength also shows marginal improvement. She can hold her neck and torso very well now. When turned upside down, she'd arch her back to resist full flat hanging. She has shown potential to rise by herself when lying down to come to sitting position.

When she wants to talk she'd make long 'aaaa' sound clearly trying to communicate something. She likes to be thrown around, lifted up, moved, turned, etc. Baby is becoming bratty and we are loving her!

Day 235

It's uncanny but whatever be the starting position of Vidhi on bed when put to sleep — and it need's always be parallel to edges as is conventional for adults, which in our case corresponds to West-East direction — she will always orient herself South-North during course of night. The turn is so precise and perfect that one wonders if she's a magnet*.



To be scientifically sure, of course, this experiment has to be repeated on different bed with different orientation.

*and as Radhika says, magnets orients North-South so, if she is reverse-magnet.

Day 209

When we named our daughter Vedika, thesis was that this name is well meaning, cute, reasonably unique, short, foreigner-pronunciation-friendly and feel-good. Only concern that this name starts from letter later in alphabets was deemed immaterial and insignificant.



We also nick-named her Vidhi, particularly because we liked this name too and couldn't just choose one between the two, it's short enough too, and because we thought Vidhi is too cute a name and more applicable for a child but not possibly for an adult. In our mind, CEO Vedika Gupta sounded more professional than CEO Vidhi Gupta.



Of course, her pet name of Vidhi has evolved to Vidhu and even Veedoo. Such is life!

Day 185

Things Vidhi has learned over last few days...



To be able to sit, unsupported for as long as fifteen minutes, but bracing herself on her arms.

To be support her neck much more stably without wobbling.

To be able to look up when sitting thereby lifting weight of her head on her neck muscles.

To be able to manipulate things when picking, say, moving one out of way to pick another.



She often continuously kicks her feet in air even when lying down, making a motion we termed 'air football'. She has actively started pushing away our faces and hands when going near her face to ward off barrage of kisses that she (naturally?) finds strange and even annoying.

Day 167

While we've been noting how Vidhi is progressing and crossing various milestones of infant life, today I want to talk about what she is not doing. This provides opportunity to differentiate nature/innate origin of certain actions/reflexes versus nurture/learned behaviours.



For example, among adults, yawns are highly contagious. In fact, you are probably yawning right now, just by reading the word. We don't observe the same with Vidhi yet, at age of 5.5 months and she can ignore yawns just as well.



It's obvious that language is a learned, yet it came to our surprise that following direction (when we point at things with out fingers or raise our arms) is also learned, even though, as adults, we cannot think otherwise.



My notion that infants will readily mimic whoever is around them is also shattered when Vidhi fails to open her mouth or move her palms/hands as we do, despite our obviously oversize gestures. It's been observed in kids a little older than her so I expect it will happen sooner or later, but it will be interesting to note where the boundary is.



As of now, Vidhi is unperturbed by her refection in mirror and isn't attracted to it. In steps of development of conscience, it is said that she will regard reflection as another person, until she come to realize that it's her, at about age of three.