A window into the soul

Mama-mia tagged me to do this tag – present 6 quirky things. Quirky–moi, no way. I am just a great gal, no quirks! :) But lets give it a shot!

These are the rules:
1.Link the person(s) who tagged you
2. Mention the rules on your blog (here they are!)
3. Tell about 6 unspectacular quirks of yours...
4. Tag 6 following bloggers by linking them.
5. Leave a comment on each of the tagged blogger’s blogs letting them know they’ve been tagged.

So here I go:
- My knee knuckle breaks (in a sound) ever time I squat. Sorry no-control over it, and I know it drives some people nuts!
- I love making up stories – though when I try to put it in paper, it never flows beautifully.
- Bathroom singer, who isn’t?
- I love music – in the car, on my laptop, at home. And if its good– I sing and dance to it! In office I try to mumble the words to the song and tap my feet. Happy to note, Kochunni is following his Amma’s tradition :)
- Except for the noise of the fan, I like the house and everyone in it to be silent for me to sleep. (One of the things that mom used to use against me, when I would not get up – she would switch on the radio)
- Total visual person – can remember faces but no names, can tell you the way to my house but won’t be able to name the roads. *** evil grin ***

I tag Wonder Yearz, Dottie, Preethi, Lijy, Little Aryan, Ray. Go on tell us about yourself!

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I really like using Firefox – the tabbed browsing, the shortcuts everything so would like to promote their little mission to make it to the Guinness World records, so please do you bit and hit the download D-day tomorrow!!! Lets make browsing safe and fun!

An affair to remember

1 Daughter
2 People
0 Affairs
6 Honeymoons
7 Adoring Nieces & Nephews
Inseparable like the circles of 8

Equals

30 Years of Togetherness and Still Counting.

Yes, that’s my parents for you!!! :)

Happy Anniversary!!!

Who packages these things?

In India, at least until a few years ago the local baniya or nearby general store used to be the place to buy almost everything from dal's to flours, from cookies to spices, from stamps to books, bulbs, scissors, almost anything. The stores are very different from today, in that the shopkeeper would hand out things that you asked for, rather than customers browsing around the shop looking for items. So apart from the packaged brand items like Haldiram sweets or a canned soup everything you get was in loose plastic bags that was wrapped up right in front of you. For example, you could ask for 4 cookies, and two AA batteries. The cookies would be picked out from a glass bottle, while batteries from the shops cupboards. They would be put in little bags for you & you could start to use them right away.

The first time I started encountering individually wrapped items was in US. Apart from vegetables and few other things everything is neatly wrapped away. Not that its a bad idea, but unpacking some of these things needed time, effort and understanding. Its not as simple as opening a cookie box. If you don't check the packaging well you might miss the small text that says "tear here" like on the little ketchup packets and go nuts over not being able to open them while your fries have gone cold.

Apart from this comes the weirdness surrounding packaging. Blub's - a handle-with-care item is packed in little paper mashe while scissors are packed off in this high quality plastic that you would need another high end scissors to open - what if you were buying them for the first time?

Worst offenders now seems to be kids toys.

Last weekend Kochunni got a little School bus from a family friend. She handed over the gift bag to me and today I finally got around to open it. My biggest mistake of course was that I showed the toy to the little guy & he got really exited since he loves anything that remotely looks like a vehicle.


But I still needed to open up the toy from its box- it looked easy enough, just a little cut out box. But I was in for a surprise the bus was held tight with these small hard plastic wires that were twisted around possibly a million times over! Now twisting and turning these 4 wires, held in place with a little green plastic took time and effort. I was glad that honey was holding a now starting to cry baby in his arms. Finally all I was able to do was to remove the bus out of the box and hand off the toy to him with the wires still sticking out.


I guess to remove these would take another 10 mins which I was sure the little guy would rather not wait to lay his hands on his toy. I learned my lesson the hard way, next time open up the damn thing, before I even show a new toy to the little guy!

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Edited to add: Found this Washington Post article that seems to highlight some of the main offenders and the awards that manufactures have won for doing the same!

The K 3 Way

Last week one of my visitors asked me – what K3 means. So here is the story!

At home, my dad used to call me by my pet name (that he coined) which started with the letter K. When honey and I were married, I told him I cannot do the Malayalee traditional way of calling husbands “ettan” or “chettan” for that sounds to brotherly to me (Please understand if you do, I am not saying its bad or good, it's just that I never had an elder brother (not even an elder cousin bro) so the words to me were sort of revered for I always wanted what I could not have - an elder bro!). So after much discussion we came up with, you guessed it – pet names that started with K for each other. This was not intentional, just something that occurred.

Later in US, while I was still an unemployed girl waiting for my work visa to come through, honey knowing my interest in writing and knowing that I was BORED at home introduced me to Blogger and I decided to set up an account more out of curiosity than anything else. Of course, we had numerous discussions on privacy issues prior to this, plus I wanted to come up with a cool name, but I could never settle on anything. So undecided was I that I went from Bag lady, to Girl-Next-Door, to Just-A-Blog to anything in between.

During these days internet had become my new pal and savior. Every day I would browse around to find unique things that piqued my interest. One time, it was Greek mythology, and I came across the name Kyra – the meaning (lady) and the letter – seemed perfect for my profile. Unfortunately I could not get the blog address with this name and had to come up with something else. It was one of the hot summer days that Dallas is famous for and my brain just fa*ted! Since K was the hot favorite of the day and 3 my lucky number I settled on it.

Now of course, back home, with my little Kochunni I was able to continue the tradition of K’s for pet names. So that’s the story of K 3.

Of course, now that I am using blogger a lot more and visiting cool sites with even cooler sounding names, I envy it. Maybe I should go for Kyra since it still does ring like a "cool" name to me! What say you?

An Unexpected Holiday

Since we had family in town, I decided to take some time off from work and show them around town. But they had a sudden change of plans and decided to visit some other relatives in another city for a couple of days – this was something that they had been going back and forth for a few days now – One day they wanted to go, next not – I guess when you are traveling you are bound to be a little unsure on how you want to plan out your days. Anyway, when I got home from work yesterday – they had decided to leave immediately and be back to our place by weekend, unaware that I had decided to take some time off from work. Hate to admit, but I was a little peeved by the decision. Now I seemed to have a holiday in my hands –for no reason at all – no birthdays, no anniversaries, no festivals!

Usually I am one of those people that never took a sick day(anti-jinx), and went on planned vacations usually combined with other company holidays. PTOs were saved for the big vacation - the trip to India. Planning for an India trip would start months in advance and it was not really a vacation in the American sense of the word – no relaxation, no spa days, no ‘just’ lounging days, but hectic travel between my place to in-laws place to meeting relatives and friends – not that I am complaining – just stating a fact. Its honeymoon versus a huge family picnic difference - you enjoy both, but while one is just relaxing time with the one you love, the other is cooking, packing, driving, monitoring kids and spending time with ones you love. The later involves more work on your end to plan and execute.

But back to my holiday today – I have absolutely no idea what I can do for two whole days. First stop, I decided to sleep-in, but your body is getting old and it just enjoys the routine – so I was up at 6.30 – so now what? I guess, I don’t have to push Kochunni too much – it can be a leisurely day to eat breakfast – but now he loves to eat food quickly. (anti-jinx). Now what? We (meaning myself and Hd) decided lets drop him off to daycare for a short while – just to ensure he hasn’t forgotten the routine. I wasn’t sure how he would react – would he cry, cling to me or what … No nothing – he is totally fine. I guess, now that his ettan has left the building, he probably understands that his vacation is over (so to speak). Either way, he seemed to fine when I left him.

So now what? I finally came up with a small plan – since today my little boy is not at home, why not clean up the place – it anyways looks like we lived through a tornado with all the toys, suitcases from the trip and a hundred outfits to go into laundry – why not play catch up. (Definitely not my favorite chore in the world – but better to get over with) Then tomorrow it can be a special day with the little guy … could I take him to park, to the mall, to the library – someplace where he could have fun. That’s something I need to think of – somewhat of a special yes day for the little guy.

As for me, I can check out blogs, read up old posts, do some chats with friends, apply mehendi and enjoy a movie – so hopefully the unexpected holiday can turn into a great spa day after all!

Passage of Fun

Done with tags and awards, its back to bare essentials – Updates!!! :)

Last week, my brother-in-law and family arrived, and what a fun ride it has been. They are here till next week with their little 6 year old boy. Two weekends already over and only one more remaining and I cannot think of where to start. My dear kochunni (this is going to be a hard one to get used too), my kutie-boy took to his cousin almost instantly, while his uncle and aunt were liked only at a distance (its changed now, he loves to play with his veli-amma, until I arrive on the scene). He even took to eating is own food watching his ettan do everything all by himself. I really hoped he might get potty trained watching his brother too, but no such luck yet! ;( He is on a break from daycare enjoying all the attention, love and warmth in a full house!

Shows - We now have K-Shows almost every hour. The show is nothing but my little one imitating everything that his brother does – but it’s oh so cute! He even imitates the sounds to the correct level and pitch. The elder one seems happy too with his attention at most times and gives him rides on the tricycle and plays hide-n-seek with him.

Fun trips -

What better to show first timers to US than two places that totally blows off everyone’s mind? Can you guess? Of course, Las Vegas and Disneyland!

First was a long car ride, everyone was beat by the time we arrived. But to see almost all of Europe (Venice, Paris), The Pyramids all in one place is total Paisa Vasool – Ok fine if you live in those places or have traveled there – Vegas is not authentic and its all fake – but it’s still a great experience! On the flip side, its definitely not a great experience for kids – We couldn’t stand around the gaming tables, because you have to be 21 or older to be around so I had run around with two kids for the little time that rest of the gang played! At least the kids were still too young to ask us about the peddlers flipping cards of naked girls (advertising the strip clubs) at the men – we had no explaining to do!!! :)

Next stop – Hollywood – The land of dreams was really a happening place. One walk through Hollywood Boulevard we saw Batman, Elmo, Catwoman, Superman, Pirates dressed up letting us take pictures with kids. Nephew got really exited seeing the Hulk and Transformers, while my little fella recognized Elmo from his little toy and was happy to pose with him. We made a short trip to Santa Monica beach to see the blue waters, built sand castles and thought about the warm waters of the beaches of Mumbai.

Happiest place on earth – is indeed a wonderful place. The power of imagination and sheer dedication and hard work is visible on every ride & every corner of the place. Be it one of the kids rides like the Dumbo the flying elephant or thrill rides like Indiana Jones, you know everyone will enjoy and want to come back for more. Its well organized, clean, expensive but worth every dollar spent. I do wish they had some better meal options for vegetarians, but you are sure to find healthy meal options with fresh fruits and salads. We loved every second of the fun filled rides… My little boy enjoyed Goofy the best giving him ‘high-fives’ and posing with him. Both Mickey and Minnie were Mickey to him, while their homes a delight to explore. His nephew enjoyed the Buzz Light-year rides and was scared of the ghouls that returned with us from the Haunted Mansion, and drove up to outer skies Star Wars style to get rid of them. When evening came, we watched the parade in awe – the choreography, the music brought out a cheer in everyone around. The night drew cold, but the skies were lit up with the magnificent fireworks that exploded in the happy place. Sovereigns bought - check, photos taken - check, celebrity sightings - check, all in all – one happy day!

We returned Monday night, and now are back into the full swing of office and house work. My kochuunni seems to have grown up so much in the past few months – a total chatterbox, working his way through 2-3 words at one time. Every little ‘oui’ needs to be kissed (by moi) to make it better, totally going independent with eating food, wanting to wear only particular clothes/colors, singing so many songs in tune (words are little unclear at times) that even Simon Cowell would shut up for once! I guess it’s only when we have new people around, who haven’t seen the baby that you realize how much your baby has changed into a bonny boy!

Sound of Music

MM, lifted this one from your Bedlam!

Rules of the tag: Various situations are given. You have to come up with a song (or a couple) that aptly describe those situations in YOUR life.

Opening credits: Chhoti si asha - Roja

Waking up: Suprabhatam – M.S.Subhalaxmi

Average day: Main zindagi ka saath nibhata chala gaya - Hum Dono

First date: Pehla Nasha - Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikander

Falling in love: Zara Zara – RHTDM/ Chhukar Mere Man Ko – Yaarana

Love Scene: Baho maie chale aao - Anamika

Fight Scene: Baat Meri Suniye to Zara - Kuch Naa Kaho/
Padaakali – Yodha (best comedic fight song)

Breaking up: Tere bina zindagi se koi - Aandhi / Waqt ne kiya kya haseen sitam - Kaagaz ke Phool

Getting back together: Gham ka fasana – Manchali /Agar Tum Na Hote Title Song

Secret love: Yeh Raat Yeh Chandini - Jaal

Life’s ok: Apni to jaise taise - Laawaris

Mental Breakdown: Dil ke tukde karke - Dada (?)/

Driving: Dil Chahta Hai – Title song

Learning a lesson: Tujhse naaraz nahi zindagi – Maasoom

Deep thought - Aage Bhi Jaane Na Tu - Waqt

Flashback: Nyagayam Varede – Autograph (excellent lyrics)

Partying: Dhoom Again - Dhoom 2

Happy Dance: Tham Thakka Them Thakka – Thirumali (really excellent dance, please do check out even if you don’t understand the words – which are meaningful too)

Regretting: Achaji main haari – Kala Pani

Lullaby: Chanda Hai Tu - Aradhana

Long night alone: Sandase aate hai – Border

Death Scene: Yeh duniya agar mil bhi jaaye – Pyaasa

Closing Credits: Mai Pal to Pal ka Shaayar Hoon – Kabhi Kabhi

Now let me also say this, this is going to look totally inept in a day when another mood strikes me, but I guess thats why tags are passed on! So all you music lovers please come up with another set of great numbers to fill up our iPods!!!

I tag you all – come share the passion! (Please let me know if you do the tag so I can check it out!

Naam Kya Hai

Juliet:
"What's in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet."
~ Romeo and Juliet (II, ii, 1-2)

Maybe, but my dear husband claims “How can you call our son Kutie (on the blog) – sounds so ‘girlish’; he is going to grow up and sue you!” Well if he is anything like is dad, he probably never will … the last time honey read my blog was when I threatened to run away. But since I have seen many fellow bloggers changing their names, and trying out a new look( myself included), I said why not?

Now what do I call my dear boy? After much thought, I have decided to call my little Kutiepie – Koch-unni or the little Unni, not based of the “Kayamkulam kochunni” – The Robin hood of Kerala, just a little pet name that sounds good to me.

What say you?

Thank You!

Is it awards season? You betcha!!! Look dear readers I am awarded one, my first one at that. YAY!!!

My dear honey, its great that you made 4 years at your company and got that little gorgeous grey Nano that you wont share, I got an award that says I am N.I.C.E – so there, I win! Ha!

Thank you Aaru and AM for the lovely award. My buddy Google found the origin of the tag - thank you Bella – definitely a great idea. Since I firmly believe in passing on the good things here goes -

“This award will be awarded to those that are just nice people, good blog friends and those that inspire good feelings and inspiration! Those that care about others that are there to lend support or those that are just a positive influence in our blogging world!"

This award seems to have been floating around a while, so in trying to ensure I be fair I pass this on to - Homecooked, Dottie, Desigirl and to everyone who stops by – you are very polite and kind to take some time of your busy schedules to stop by my blog and drop a line...

Thank You!

Burning Questions

Dear God,

Am I closer to you when I am flying?

I remember my last trip to India when Kutie was still a baby – we opted to travel from Kerala to Bombay via the new economy airlines – I believe it was Air Deccan. The flight supposed to have started at 7PM did not take off until 9PM (which according to my parents was still much better than usual), and then there was a mad scrambling to get on the plane first – for there are not seat assignments. As we boarded the plane, we noticed that first row was already taken by none other than the CM of Kerala and some of his buddies and security guards. There were still some seats to his side, but most people looked for an empty row in the back to find the perfect aisle/window that they desired. We landed in Bombay and soon another mad dash occurred to get out of the plane began.

The thing that stuck in my head later was when I realized that while in air everyone was the treated equal, the CM did not get any extra privilege nor did we, the air hostess did not offer neither of us a free drink nor gave us a customary smile! While back on the ground the differences were huge. The CM was escorted out into his white ambassador car, already waiting at the runway, while we had to board the little bus and hang on the railings on one hand, while holding a six month old baby on the other.

Yes!

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Dear Indian DVD Maker,

Why do you believe that we like to watch the commercials about yourself before sitting down to watch the movie we actually bought/rented to watch?

Here’s my pet peeve.
Every time I watch an Indian movie, the DVD menu button fails miserably (unless I use the PC). It would give an error messaging saying “This feature does not function on this DVD” I am forced to watch the endless, rather boring song that details why the said DVD is of a higher quality than all its contemporaries. Then I need to watch through an array of collections that is owned by the company that I could essentially buy from India and ship at an exuberant price home.

Because customers focus business model seems to be non-existent (at least in the DVD market)!

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Dear Mr. Grey Hound,
Did you really need to explain to the 13 year old how to best play tennis at the front porch?

I was out on a stroll with my little guy in the stroller, looking at the cars and trucks that frequently passed by, stopping and enjoying the beautiful roses that have blossomed at every front porch. Up ahead was Mr. Grey Hound explaining in an Asian + English language how best to play tennis. I probably would have walked right past, but he was making all sorts of actions with his hands – a backhand, front hand with a jump, side shot with another jump, that I stared. (Impolite I know, but its just the desi DNA). I could not understand the words he said to his 10-13 year old boy sipping coke but could definitely gather the gist due to all his animated actions. The moment the poor kid realized that they are still on the street, with strangers (myself, and another couple coming in the opposite direction) walking by, he yelled “Yes, I will do it next time”, He might as well have muttered “Just shut up” under his breath, for all I know. I moved along realizing that the poor boy was probably more ashamed of the fact that yet another person knows the story how badly he 'might' have played the game.

Yes. Because as parents we are not thinking about YOUR embarrassment, until we read about it in your blog 20 years later!!

Standard Deviation

I need help, should have been a better title to the post, but the one I used, sounded better. *grin* Suffice is to say, I do need help/answers.

Kutie is doing well, learning, playing, and generally going places. I am trying very hard to ensure that he grows up multilingual like his parents, you know the kind – the one who talks to friends in Hinglish (hindi-english mix), talks to yet another group in British English, to someone else in yet another language. I think its valuable for the little guy to learn his mother tongue (yes my language, my traits, see if a language as a word for it, it couldn’t be that bad now, can it? ) Yes he does speak – whatever few words in his mother tongue, but he is picking up other words from the daycare. It used to be “idhu” for everything and now its “this” – means the same thing, but sorry this rose called my many names is just a little different!

Why do I sound so mad at this, because it’s Monday and I have tons of things to get to, and the fact that I don’t want a kid who is disgusted at talking to his parents in a language that probably none of his friends know and care about. I have seen many types – ones who would rather be caught dead than speak their mother tongue (the older kids usually), younger ones who used to speak their mother tongue at home and now don’t, and yet another who still do both. Though unfortunately the later, is often a non-Indian, Europeans, Chinese, Spanish, Japanese etc. (don’t know why that is the case, but that’s the not the topic discussion here)

My parents did it, I grew up in a town that was unfamiliar with my mother tongue, but still managed to speak the tongue, but not everyone did it. Did my parents do something right, or was it just a fluke event? And if you say what they did was right, then are parents to blame, when their child is not speaking their tongue. What about parents that both speak a different tongue? What then? Do you teach the child two languages plus the universal Hindi or English as the case might be? Is this more of an issue for parents who are away from their homeland? And if so, does it matter then at all … if your child is likely to be away, does he really need his mother tongue?

All said and done, all we want is for our kids to grow up with all the tools they will need to face the world tomorrow – language is one of the tools to communicate and so, does possessing various languages become more valuable than owning just one?

Finally I pose this question, is there anyone out there who has successfully taught their kids one or two or more languages … maybe its Hindi/Chinese/Spanish/French/Italian at home and English at school, or the other way round. What did you do? What worked, what did not? Pointers anyone?

If reading this I sound anti-English then you are mistaken. I love that language too. I majored in it for goodness sake! I repeat I just want my son, to learn two or more languages like many of us did, and love & respect each and every one of them. I mean, I love the effect when people say, ‘Oh you speak this many languages”, “You speak well” etc … is that asking for too much?

More about moi!

Tagged by little Aaru ... a few more things about Moi!

Last Movie You Saw In a Theater: Superman Returns (last year, few days before my delivery)
What Book Are You Reading: Cannot remember, do reading books to Kutie count… This is so depressing! Note to myself: Find the time to get back into the grove on reading!
Favorite Board Game: Too many ... Cards, Monopoly, Uno .. I love playing!
Favorite Magazine: Entertainment Weekly
Favorite Smells: Soil after the first rain
Favorite Sound: When Kutie calls Amma when he wakes up from sleep - the sleepy voice is oh sooo sweet & the sound of his tiny feet as he runs around the hardwood floors
Worst Feeling In The World: Getting lost
What Is The First Thing You Think Of When You Wake?: Can I go back to sleep, for another 5 mins?
Favorite Fast Food Place: Any chaat house ... if I can get some bhel, pani puris - see you there!
Future Child's Name: No idea!
Finish This Statement. "If I Had A Lot Of Money I'd...”: Travel the world
Do You Drive Fast?: Depends on who you ask! ;)
Do You Sleep With A Stuffed Animal?: Nope
Storms-Cool Or Scary?: Scary
What Was Your First Car?: Toyota
Favorite Drink: H20
Finish This Statement, "If I Had The Time I Would .....”: Travel, Play, Sleep …
Do You Eat The Stems On Broccoli?: Yes
If You Could Dye Your Hair Any Color, What Would Be Your Choice?: Golden brown
Name All The Different Cities/Towns You Have Lived In: Mumbai, Dallas, Bangalore, Bay area
Favorite Sports To Watch: Cricket
One Nice Thing About The Person Who Sent This To You: A little guy he might be, but oh what fun times doth he bring to his Mama and me!
What's Under Your Bed?: Box filled with clothes
Would You Like To Be Born As Yourself Again?: Yes
Morning Person Or Night Owl?: Night owl
Over Easy Or Sunny Side Up?: Eewwee eggs, never my favourite either way!
Favorite Place To Relax: Home with family and friends
Favorite Pie: Anything goes!
Favorite Ice Cream Flavor: Vanilla, Tuttie-fruite - actually anything except chocolate!
Of All The People You Tagged This To, Who's Most Likely To Respond First?:
Hmm .. no ideas! I think this tag has been around for a while, I have to figure out who to tag first - Swati? Kodi's mom? Rayshma? Anyone else?

Riddle-me-Ree, Who can she be?

Greetings wonderful MTBs!!!
and good work to all of you!
For having solved the riddle before
I give you all this clue.

The letter " B "

Write it down, add it on...
And let’s move on to the next little song.

This lady, strong, poised and staid
Created a furore when she called a maid - a maid
And the trolls rolled in with all their venom
And showed true qualities of their genome.
Angst over the school syndrome, she did go thru
And her Gift of God, she absolutely adores too.

Solve it and you get your lead
Misguess, and you lose your speed
Solve it slow but solve it now
And before you go, take a little bow

Go to 'Comments' and leave me a clue
Tell me which blog you are off to.
Good luck! Good luck! Be on your way.
You have your work, cut out for the day!

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Edited to add: To anyone who is still wondering what this is all about, no this is no virus attack, just a treasure hunt for some wonderful MTB's (mothers-to-be). A chain event that covers around 50 fellow bloggers, if you go around correctly, you would landed here through Gauri's blog and mine should lead you to Rohini and round and round you would go till you get to a wonderful treasure trove full of love, kind notes and some gyaan.

Thanks Maggie for the wonderful return rhymes, quoting them all here for posterity!

Here is the one from Gauri's blog about Moi! To whoever came up with this ... way cool!
“This bay area gal is a guru of sales
Also the girl next door, she regales
With tales of her son and being a mommy
She says her son is as cute as can be
Miracle of life is a birth
Thus spoke this mom in mirth.”

Maggie's return rhyme:
You've taken us on a merry ride I nearly had my brain fried!
But with the help of the other MTBs We found that the place to go is K3's!


Here is a small one from yours truly!

What a fun ride it was indeed,
New friends and old did I meet
So too everyone blessed be
Thanks and Thanks, for letting me in!

In Dad's Shoes ... & More!

There are few things in life that we take for granted, no I don't mean parents (which most often we do) - I am talking about the material things (for now).

I love photos ... sometimes, when I was younger, on a warm afternoon, my dad and I would bring out all the albums (in the name of cleaning up the cupboard) and immerse ourselves in nostalgia. I would try to hunt my parents and myself in the old black & white pictures, laugh at dress code of yesteryears and marvel when I would be told a story surrounding that picture. Later in life, I remember a time when my honey was shown all the old pictures, I was sort of ashamed ... not really wanting him to see me as a little girl in ponytail, shy and demure. I felt that was not the 'me' anymore. But he said, 'It's is so nice that your parents have all the memorabilia surrounding your life, I don't think I have so many things from my childhood days,' Thats when it hit me, photos are valuable, its a window into the past. A way to see where we came from, our friends, that perhaps we are destined never to meet again, places that we might never visit again ... a little crooked path to go back in time, to rewind and relive the moments!

So when I was first introduced to the digital camera (honey bought one for our wedding); I felt cheated! Here was something that one could take a picture, check it out and delete it all in a matter of seconds. No doubt, everyone was in awe, there was no waiting at the shop to get your pictures printed, everything was available at your finger tips. I still remember how honey had to explain to friends and relatives over and over again at the wedding about the digital camera ... a few had heard about it, but none seen it up close.

Today, after owning a couple of versions of the little thing, I cannot think of life without it ... how can I? When I need to take 10 shots to get that perfect little shot of Kutie when he is running around so quick. I hope some day soon, I could spend an afternoon with him and the photos & videos, tell him stories around each and relive the bygone years.

I admittedly have changed my tune and love the digital camera and very happy to note that I finally found my handy flash drive to deliver all the pictures to my PC and here are few for your viewing pleasure ...


Kutie just might fill into his dad's shoes a day too soon ...





Vishu 08 pics










Kutie having fun

Vishu 2008

Hoping this post gets through finally ... Blogger has been acting weird.

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What a great beautiful sunny bountiful day it is!!

I set up the Kani yesterday night at 11.30 – this late because (don’t laugh) I fell asleep while trying to put Kutie to bed. But at least I made it in time before the unlucky 12 o’clock (I have this idea that if it’s past 12 then the day has changed so technically you have seen the kani already) Anyway I made it … vaalkanaadi, rice, fruts, vegetables, nilavilakku, betal nut leaves were arranged in front of Lord Guruvayoorappan.

I got up at 5 and after lighting up the nilavilakku, went and got honey to view the wonderful sight. After that, we debated if it’s a good idea to wake up Kutie this early; finally deciding to try our luck I pulled him out slowly. He was still asleep but opened his eyes just a wee bit to look at the display. He was about to wail – so we rushed him back into bed. He slept for another two hours (phew) and I got to get ready for the big day.

After he woke up we continued last year’s tradition and gave the little guy a silver coin as Vishukkaineetam. This time around he had more fun asking us about the items and trying to blow out the lamp! :) He enjoyed plucking the roses from the garden and bringing them over – for once we did not have to buy flowers since we had beautiful roses in our front yard. Plus, being the first Vishu in our new home, this was an added feather in the cap!

I quickly got lunch ready wanting to spend more time with the little fella. Since it was a beautiful day, we played outside in the backyard for quite a while and then I took him to the park. He seemed to enjoy the swing and running around everywhere. The unexpected holiday really turned out to be a fun day for both of us.

Once home, he got taste of the grand feast. Its was illuminating to me, since usually I only offer rice, dal and curds – and today he had a more spruced up food with many spices and he ate with relish! (Note to myself – to let him in on more grown up food) Tired but still enquiring about his dad (who had to go to work) he was off into the world of dreams. His dad came home much late and the two of us had a lovely lunch and movie date.

Come evening we made a trip to the temple and the day ended with a blissful yawn (knowing I have enough left-over’s for two days)

Vishu wishes

Call it by any name, Biasaki, Ugadi, Bihu, Tamil Puthand etc its the time of the New Year - a time to celebrate and bring in the new!

For a Malayalee this is one of the big festivals, which the beginnings of the agricultural season in Kerala. Vishukani the most important ritual on 'Vishu' day; is the first sight you see in the morning - which is said to be the deciding factor on how your day is likely to proceed. For a Vishu-kani - this of course means how your year ahead is going to proceed and therefore becomes all important ritual. People makes sure its packed with all good things in life, in hopes of the same all year round.

The preparations for Vishu start the earlier evening, when the Kani is set up. Often done when the children are asleep to ensure that they see the blessed sight the next morning. Being far away from India means you might not get all items of the kani - especially the kani konna-- I have made up the fact this year with this picture alongside! ;)

Anyway, hoping for a great Vishu celebrations tomorrow ... more to come later!

Rang de basanti

Water sprinkers & gulal (colors) Pics from the Holi celebrations ...

The color of spring

Holi is probably one of the favorite festivals for kids where the festivities start months in advance. The water filled balloon attacks, the colors that brighten the atmosphere.

After coming to US, I often missed the celebrations and fondly remembered those carefree happy days. Come the night of holi, a big bonfire would be lit & after the pujas the magic of holi will be upon all kids and elders alike. Living on the fourth floor of an apartment complex at such times turned very advantageous and all my friends would be at my balcony (patio) to pelt down a string of water balloons. Sometimes we would rush to the terrace to get a better view, while one of the younger girls would keep a watchful eye on anyone trying to come up the stairs, and when that happened, we would all rush down the 18 steps back to my and my neighbor’s flat, that was the closest to reach. We would shut the doors and hide out; of course the boys would be furious and paint our front door in a mirage of colors and ring the bell to see if we open the door (they used to think we are so dumb to do that). Mom would start chatting with us and dad would be fuming in the background – he never seemed to understand the fun we had and of course, he knew he would need to clean up the mess later!

Finally, this year we made it to the Holi celebrations at Stanford. The music, the atmosphere, the crowds, brought back warm memories of the past. Though Kutie being too young was miserable at first to see throngs of people – faces marked with so many colors that you could hardly tell who it was. When a lady tried to color his face, he yelled like there was no tomorrow! Later, I bought him a little ‘pichkari’ and we had some quiet fun away from the crowds. The lines at the food stands were huge that by the time we got to eat our samosas, rice/raitha, & sweet lassi we were almost starved to death. I wish they had built more stalls than just two buffet style stalls. Plus they needed to enforce, no cutting in line policy.

The performances by Stanford’s own groups were fun and they really helped bring out good cheer. And of course like all big celebrations, by the end people went plain crazy … the water sprinklers that were being used to fill everyone’s buckets and pichkaries with water had created a little pool of water on the ground, and this muddy water became the appealing ‘color’ to many by the end. Some were lifted and pushed into this wet mud. YIKES!!!! There were many who looked like they did not want the mud bath, but were pushed and shoved into it nonetheless. What is it with crowds that they go berserk towards the end of it all?

It was great fun though, and though getting back into the car was a pain. Luckily we had an extra set of outfits for the boys and I put some plastic bags to cover our car seats. We had to run to the shower and clean up quickly after we got home ... just in case the colors brought in a rash or something especially on Kutie (he has a very dry skin and always on the verge of eczema). Then it was time for the afternoon nap ... all in all, a Perfect Day!

Happy Happy Day!

To the one, who has always loved me unconditionally!!!!


To the one, who has always been there for me!!!


To the one, without whom I would not be! (Sorry Achan! ;))


Happy Birthday, Amma!
Happy U, Ammamma!


Ed to add: Sorry for any confusion, folks - it was my mom's birthday, not mine yesterday. But she often visits all of you, so I am sure she is very happy with your wishes. Thanks guys ... U ALL ROCK!!!!

Stuff around the world

Sometimes browsing around helps –

First stop a great audio library of books at Storynory. The readings are done by Natasha Gostwick, who is clearly a talented individual. I know Kutie is too young to listen to stories but definitely something for little older kids.

Another cool site is Parent hacks which list many parenting tips from us – the parents. A good storehouse of hacks for potty training to discipline to having some fun.