Why Are You Late Today?

The door bell rings suddenly, insistently, shaking me out of my slumber and I walk bleary eyed to the door. The maid awaits, having managed to wake me after four attempts at the bell. Our morning alarm clock is late again. And I know that we will be rushing to office, running around desperately to catch an auto-wallah willing to take us the short distance to office, cursing the traffic, and generally doing what most Mumbaikars do in the morning.
“Why are u late today?”, I question querulously, “Don’t you know we have to get to office by 9, and can’t be waiting for you?”. She does not answer, just staggers around unsteadily while she attempts to sweep the house. I notice, and think for the umpteenth time that we need to get a new maid, this one seems to be getting worse by the day. But there just doesn’t seem to be the time to do anything nowadays. I rush to office, oblivious to any problems but my own.
Another day dawns, more leisurely this time. The bell wakes me up again. I even attempt a smile today, from the general good cheer of the weekend stretching ahead. I make some tea while she cuts the vegetables. Only when I am about to drink it, does it occur to me to offer her some. She becomes a human suddenly, just the same as me. A few questions and I learn her story. Married at 18, four kids already, and a drunk for a husband who beats her up regularly. The last time he had done that, she had had to go to hospital for a week and couldn’t walk properly after that. She still came to work anyway because she’s the only earning member now. Economic independence and women’s liberty. This is not what they mean, surely?
The door bell rings again. She seems terrified. “If it is my husband, tell him that I have left. Please. He will drag me home if he finds me here”. I open the door to find blood shot eyes. I smell the alcohol on his breath. I hold the door open an inch, and say she has left. He repeats the question, and I my answer. More irritably. Insistently. I slam the door shut on his face, wishing instead that I could give him a taste of his own medicine.
She smiles at me gratefully. We are allies now. Friends in a way. She may remain a terrible cook, and a sloppy worker. But she’s turned more into ‘Madhuri didi’ now, from being just ‘the maid’.

Bed n Brekker

I've finally got listed as a bed n breakfast place on one travel agent's books... namastay.in see this website for details .Select Ooty as destination and then check out Ilavenil.

Ravi, yes it is all appreciative comments but some of us need some boosting at times - when you are a woman in your 40s you need all you can get. But we could add some negative traits too for some character improvement.

I think that is perceptive observation, Ravi.that old people need to keep doing something and need to feel needed to keep going sanely. I just thought of the older generation in our family...all the chittis and chitappas and none of them live with their kids and their health-mental and physical is fine.

Kapu that is a wonderful description of the therukoothu. Good you are making the most of living in Madras. This blog is improving writing skills I guess:-)

Next on lists:
Goutham:
Sense of humor (when its other people)
Success has emphasized his traits of helpfulness and caring much
Hard working - now

Could be less sensitive about his hurt feelings and learn to forget and forgive

GG
exuberant, helpful, cheerful But all this can disappear with her moods

This and That

I think with character analysis we run a danger of becoming a "mutual appreciation society"
I am not taking part in this !

Kapu, If you look at the elderly carefully, You will see that this keeps them going, and if you take away that from them, they will rot away and die

I see old people in nursing homes here well fed etc, but its like being in Gods waiting room and with no purpose in life
The least that we can do for old people would be -helping them would be -showering them with random acts of kindness as possible
we have a gardener who comes only for his sunday lunch does a bit here and there and eats well and goes

I try and help the underprivliged as much as i can, for eg keeping a decent tip at hotels etc I am sure all of us do our best May long that continue


My ideal birthday would be fun with the family
Nothing to beat that !

more later a pt to see now !!

theru koothu.

hi everyone,

last week found time to see a theru koothu dance drama at allians francaise[i hope the spelling is right all u +2 frenchies.].off course it was free so i took papa also. it was a play based on ravindranath tagore story done by a troupe which comes from a koothu patra  school going on near kancheepuram specially for underprivileged children.  its run by a couple the wife is french. she came to learn the art from the master and married him.

the gist being the king decides to stop animal sacrifices at the kali temple but the queen very much against it as she has prayed to god for a baby promisisng animal sacrifice. she is aided by the kings brother and the pujari who plan to kill the adopted son to stop him succeeding the throne.  the pujaris disciple ultimately sacrifices himself to kali and everyone comes to their senses.  the costumes were colurful and great, the steps simple but good.  though the words of the song were not very clear all the time due to the tremondous voice it was sung in, luckily they had a background computer scrreen with the translation in english.  the play was excellent on the whole and nice to enjoy a different dance form.  people who dedicate their life for a cause without the pursuit of money and fame are really great.

tried to add culture to sajit but he refused to come.  sanju enjoyed it.

darshu , i suppose that once u cross 40 with demanding kids at home  the perfect birthday would be a peaceful one , of course with a few thoughtful gifts thrown in.  the other day sindhu and me were having this discussion about would u prefer a bouquet or a useful gift, and to her horror i chose the latter.  thats a capricorn for u.  the goat cant change its hair !!!!.

hoping to meet the rest of the family at rams get together. 

Weekly round up

First the character analysis - Im just adding to what has gone before
Aswatha - diligent and sense of humor
Anya- adaptable and sweet natured
Babu- takes life a little lightly( laidback is his word) with a sense of humor; terribly interested in everything

and of course all three are terribly intelligent - with these genes could they be not?;-)

Listen everyone, if you dont add contribute then you are going to be left out soon, when your turn comes and this blog might die out ....if people just keep reading and not writing

Dachu, Im still thinking of my perfect bday- my favorite people around and ....?certainly not white water rafting - a boat ride with someone else doing the rowing may be more like it

Kap nice thoughts on older people who cant retire.... good it seems your family is letting go of its stranglehold on you when you can think of other people

Ravi, fine to be a chip of the old block- if I had a quarter of amachi's organising capabilities, I would be fine.

Goutham the globe trotter- Kalai is certainly going to have hysterics when sees the pics..right now she is too busy but may get back to her life around the middle of the month

Ram and Leena and Jai, Lekha, Loganathan have come and gone to cbe.. (Im tired of travelling down to cbe to meet people) Interesting to met people after 20 years. Contrary to rumors, kids are very disciplined and undemanding. Ram looks great- active and confident and full of himself, life and his kids

Wedding Anniversary

Today is GG and Karthik's first wedding anniv - complete with Dhruv and going to work - it doesnt seem like a first wedding anniv.
I remember only Lalli Aunty and Mama celebrating their first with a baby..maybe other couples in the family did it too - but this is the most recent I remember.
Well, last year this time, was the most glam wedding the family has seen - celebrating at a posh hotel with nothing held back.
I remember the buffet and the glittering hall outside with the chandelier and the sweeping staircase and staying up crosseyed to pack sweet bags and thenga pais.

Birthdays

Its been a long silence from me I guess :) Sindhu had come over here last weekend and we spent three days oor suthifying, shopping and of course eating :)) . We did all the touristy things, elephanta caves, gateway, chaat on juhu beach, shopping in bandra. sindhu was very excited to travel by Mumbai taxis so u can guess how kanjified she must be :DD. It made up for Sindhus sad birthday the next weekend I guess when she apparently had classes from morning to evening.
What would the perfect birthday actually be like? For me it could be two ways. One a perfectly relaxed lazy day at home with my favourite book to read and my favourite people around me and nobody telling me to do any work (Does mean im overstressed :) ) Another way could be doing some really adventurous thing like white water rafting or paragliding or soemthing liek that.
What would you want??

aswatha

caring
highly talented ( still u can shine in sports too)
parents, grand parents pet, is that u

MUSINGS.

hi every one,
i was reading rapunzel to sanju for the umpteenth time and so he wanted a change and asked me to change rapunzel into a boy.  that stopped me in my tracks!!! how do i build it up with no golden hair.!!!
today just saw the morning milk delivery lady she must be above 75 and still works for a living with no day off. she delivers milk in a pushcart twicwe aday.  no holiday for her.  the vegetable seller , he must be pushing 80 too and he pushes a huge cart everyday with wooden wheels. working for a living at this age with no pension.  he wouldnt even have heard of one. he wanted to borrow the waste car tire tubes from me to tie up his wheels.  life is so unfair for them.   our state should start an old age pension which is enough for atleast a daily good meal for them.  life is so unfair to them while we worry about our new mobiles, our next car ,plot ,adida shoes  and our holidays.  maybe we should stop and think and get our priorrities right.
goutham whn kalai sees ur comment and photoa. she is going to murder u.  !!! as kalu says ur ideas are humourous and good. keep it up.

ASHWATHA.

1]  GOOD ENGLISH.AND SENSE OF HUMOUR.
2]SWEET NATURED.
3]A GREAT SISTER .

ANANYA.
THOUGH WE DONT KNOW HER TOO WELL.
1]SWEET NATURED.
2]ADJUSTING AND NON DEMANDING.

BABU.
words cannot descrbe his wonderful nature.
1]cheerful inspite of all worries.
2]survivor with capacity to accept the things he cannot change and makes the best of the current situatuion.
3]excellent husband and father.

sunday special

amachi__ latest

amachi__current

Ammachi

I think kallu hits the nail on the head when she says there is a bit of ammachi in all of us
I am not going to write about her as i owe all I had ,have and will have to her,,..

On the whole i think we belong to a great family where we feel like an extended family

Kallu the show that you did reminds me about what Ammachi did when she was in denkanikottai when she was bored - she grabbed 10 children and started teaching them daily !
Of cos being Ammachi she asked all of them to bring money for a group snap and the parents couldnt afford ! but still was fun for all children !


Sindhu - Happy birthday

a bit busy so a quick post come sindhu and dachu say something !!

Sindhu' bday

HI Sindhu,

Happy Birthday and may you feel like this lots of times in your life

Kuselan

Kuselan - After coming out of the theatre , Dad said 'It was like going to a hotel and expecting a hot and spicy mutton biryani but getting a sambar vada instead'.That basically sums up the whole movie.Rajni Kanth is seen for a couple of microseconds in the movie(if you blink , you miss him), ok fine maybe i'm exagarating a bit but... anyway there was some bald(well he had about as much hair as medha) guy acting as the hero who ironically was a hairdresser , it's incredibly sentiMENTAL and had Nandhika in tears by the end. For me , this event was stored up for future blackmail purposes and since Nandhika did not clean my room on Friday , the information has leaked out*evil laugh*. We saw the movie on the first day and I sat next to some weird guy (a Rajni Kanth fan-definitely weird) .There were a few not-very-funny-actually-lame jokes which had the guy next to me in hysterics, so Dad and I wondered whether to throw our popcorn at him or at the screen..
bottomline- there's an unwritten rule that if a rajnikanth film releases and if you know tamil , you have to see it - so watch it by all means, but buy plenty of pop corn.

Amachi

Of course Amachi is the greatest woman this family has seen -
a terrific strong character with a large heart who gave and gave ( in her last years she took but a lot of her taking was to give it elsewhere)
a very public persona who knew just how to tap people
a very hardworking, dynamic , determined person.

We were all moulded in part by her.

I think we can skip Appa as it will all be boringly superlative unless someone wants to talk about him.

Next week - can be Anya, Aswatha and Babu.

Goutham your posts are getting interesting and better. great that you are taking the time and trouble to join in.

Please don't put off writing a little note until you have more time- you wont get it. If somebody's post inspires you to write a comment, do it right NOW.
The interaction so far has been great but it is upto each person to keep this going.

character analysis.

ANANDHI.

1]as everybody knows--helpful.
2]  enthustiatic.
3] someone to count on in times of real trouble.  ready to drop everything and rush to your help.


but i would also like to add somethings which could change.
a] wide mood swings.
2]over dependance on others.


AMACHI.
1] a wonderful character.who brought up the grand sons through thick and thin.
2] determined.

i remember the ayapa poojas she used to drag us to at 4 in the morning. we ended up enthusiatic for the sundal and prasadam we finally got .  all the bhajans of ayappa that we sometimes hum to impress our kids is due to her. the little religion in 90 sivanandha colony was mainly due to her and thatha.

is it appa and ashwatha next or does appa come under s.
                                  

suggestion- characer analysis

AMACHI
a legend
good mother(spoilt her sons)
humble grand mother (i and my brothers due to her a lot)
all our family members must be proud of her , as she brought doctors and engineers mapillais to her daughters and for her sister daughters too.

tired trip

very tiring. was raining almost every day, but still can move on, enjoyed indian food, which is better,tasty and cheap.any way home sweet home, leaving for cbe in few days, for kalu i have a rose (not a flower) . this is for her excellent writing abt rose, hi, u heard abt vijay tv rose,,,
goutham

Suggestion - character analysis

Kap suggests that each week we all make our character analysis of one person - she suggests we make it positive as a morale booster

We have to make it either age wise or Alphabetical - this week it could be

Anandhi
- helpful
- friendly and gregarious
- lives in the moment

Now its upto to you all- remember it will be your turn soon - so do make an effort to think and talk about each person

Independence Day -Family show

Hey NRIS how does Independence Day affect you? Do you feel nostalgic, connected or indifferent?

Well, this is how I spent the last one.

Only a mad woman would decide to put on a skit involving 20 excitable kids a week before the date in a language they are not too familiar with. Of course that mad woman is me.

But to my credit, I very quickly decided against a story from the freedom struggle. Since both the players and the audience don't understand English, it would be wasting everyone's time. But it had to be in English since I was conducting English classes for them.

So it became a medley of little vignettes- all connected together by a TV watching , channel surfing family. The news - both local and national; a dance show; a singing choir(tough- this one); sports and a comedy show.

I consulted my consultants.

DAnce to Venga Boys (Sharadha) - and Staying Alive (because I had the music)

Song - Do-re -me- (Kapu ).She also did some mad consulting with Kalai on the lines for 'Al things bright and Beautiful . Eventually they dispensed with the second verse.

Comedy show- Babu came up with a skit seen in his school days involving a drunken colonel and mad servant.

The News show had little asides - like a leapord being caught and a new violet rose..

The dancers were to wear blue jeans and white shirts and rock. The choir had Do-re-me ( the only song both I and they could manage) word perfect. The sports channel was great- with a terrifically non-stop incomprehensible cricket commentary. The Olympic games had a few boys doing kuttikaranams (for acrobatics) ; tennis, 100m run and boxing. All backed by a angelic faced rascally commentator whom I longed to whack .

Well, today..

The news readers forgot to bring their scripts and extempored a bit.. but the asides did their bits very well not bothering about the news being read.

The dancers had dressed in bright sarees for another dance and were to change but in the incomprehensible way of programs this one came first so they did their break dance in all their finery.

The choir got all the lines mixed up but of course no one really knew.

The sports and comedy show got a lot of cheering ..

So altogether, a fun show. and..all the kids came up to ask ..how did I do?

If one reaches for the stars; then one does fall far short but its still worthwhile.

hi everybody,

got my computer repaired [is that the word] and now am back incirculation.  expecting gg ,kalai and family did a long of spring cleaning only to hear that gg had fever and thay cancelled the trip.  had booked tickets for singh is king which even sajit refused to come so had to sell them in black ,but so honestly that i gained only 5 bucks. atleat our house was cleaner for a span of 2 days ,now we are back to normal.

met ram and family at spencers plaza for dinner.  darshu!!! kids were cute.  rams wife is very good budgeter and found most things in spencers plaza costly.  ram is bald but otherwise not much of an accent and still cheerful.  he says he gets his kids to do a lot of work at home.  probably its the same in all american household.  look at kumars family.  please could anyone sponsor sajit for an american trip.
i cant understand why boys have to leave their clothes on the floor, why they just roll the bedshheet and stuff it somewhere if forced to make the bed,  why do they have to eat 23 hours a day, -- oh give me a girl any day !!!!!!!


rAM is on a whirwind tour to trichy ,ce and bangalore to meet friends and appa at cbe.
their get together is apparntly on sunday 30th.  

ok thats it for now.
kapu

comments

Kar, good going. Keep that anger flag flying to protest against what you see as totally unreasonable.
Good when that wrath breaks out.

As for your virtues, we could add warmth and kindness to them.

Aswatha, must check with your parents about yours. Glad you are reading.

A taste of Racisim

I had my first taste of obvious racisim a week ago at a local icecream store, which we visit every time in summer when we go to the water slides...I also recommend this place to many people....

7th august: surya, uthra and i stopped there and had icecream, even got to taste a few before we made our choice, surya had to 2 scoops..2 different varities...

10th august: 2 families 8 of us stop there on our way back home....we 4 all indians and the other 4 ( caucasian mother, chinese partner, 2 african-american kids)
the 4 kids, the chinese male and i got the the stall...and
first order one kid:he gives it an ordinary cone, though i had asked for waffle cone.
we order the 2nd icecream, he goes to take the cone, and i can see him picking up the ordinary cone..so i ahd to repeat myself 4 times and make him change it to the waffle cone...
3rd order..surya ask to taste an ice cream..the guy states: we dont do tasting...so i say, we tasted just yesterday, the guy says we dont do it anymore....so surya takes 2 scoops of different icecreams...4th kid orders...he ask for 2 different scoops, he gives the same icecream..so we say give a 3rd scoop and we pay for a large.the guys states: we dotn do 3 scoops..
by then we are mad...so we dont order for adults and walk away to sit in the lawn...

A cacusian senior couple arrive and the seniormale walks past us holding a 3-4 scoop icecream and happy and similing shows us this is a medium as he walks past us..
then we see the lady getting tasting...
so i walk to the guy and ask what his problem is......wouldnt bother answering...asked him if he is being racisist...
i called him a few " choice" name..was not bothered.....
i looked around and deliberately knocked down a cone on a stand...said he will call the police...so i said call the police...
the senior women/customer interefered, i told her to stay out of it..as she didnt know what had transpired...
on questioning, the guy said he was the owner...
so we went to the the dairy plant next door,( it as sunday), met a lone youngster..found it that the icecream stall was leased by an employee and the guy was an employee...we left our names etc and vishy threatened to bring out in the newspapers if we dont hear from the owner by next day...that worked..
so next day the day called apoligized and informed us that she has relieved the guy/attendant of his duties, he wont be working there any more...
but It made me realize that what we read and see in movies about segregation of Black, jews, about apartied etc..can never be understood in full by the new generation..
Becos, now we had the power to yell back.....power to stand up and talk for our rights...to know that if i go to the newspaper, they will pick up our story and the business will be affected..the power and knoweldge that i will be heard and i can make a difference...that i dont have to hide my wounds...
This incident has not effected me at all..i just think of that guy and wonder what his problem was...may he has some mental health issues..went through some personal issues and directed it at the next asisan he saw....
May be living in vancouver has protected us too well..it is such a mulitculutral city where the whites are a minority.....In the first few years i my mind diferentiated races...but today if you asked me who was the last cashier who served you at a store...i will probably say a male or a female and the race would be an after thought to be more specific...( like tall short, thin, fat)

Any way my friends and kids, vishy saw a side of me that has become a joke.....dont get her angry...and the news is spreading among the other families!!!As i am considered very laid back.

virtues and sins

Every from 90 sivananda colony ,will certainly have gultonny in thier list!!!

mine; glutonny, wrath
virtues: patience ( I have been told several times, except my immediate family!)

cant seen any other virtue which fits me...

i think my 3 sins are gluttony , wrath and pride i guess..

then my 3 virtues are ermmm ,,, kindness, charity and diligence

Mine

I think my three sins are:
luxuria, gluttony, sloth
My three virtues....
patience, kindness and humility....

the paradox is is if you think you re humble, you aren't.

Okay lets hear your opinions on this.
And you have to list yours...

Seven deadly Sins

Yes, Ravi, more boring stuff but someone has to keep the family knowledgeable and only jobless people can do it well. Being boring is only a minor sin -and can be forgiven through any sacramentals or sacraments of the church. So that's okay.

The seven deadly sins as listed by Pope Gregory in the 6th Century are:
luxuria (extravagance, later lust), gula (gluttony), avaritia (greed), acedia (sloth), ira (wrath), invidia (envy), and superbia (pride)

Each of the seven deadly sins has an opposite among the corresponding seven holy virtues (sometimes also referred to as the contrary virtues). In parallel order to the sins they oppose, the seven holy virtues are chastity, temperance, charity, diligence, patience, kindness, and humility.

To me the first three - lust, gluttony, greed all seem to be variations of the same thing.
RAvi, we can believe you went through the whole set. And retain a few.
But you are forgiven because you have some of the virtues too or are working on them.

Thanks for the general invite. lets see what is happening around deepavali.

The August 15th weekend seems to be a family reunion thing .
Dachu and Sindhu are meeting up in Bombay.
Karthik, GG, dhruv and Kalai are driving to Chenai to spend it with Kap';s family.
Babu is taking his brother's families to Mahabalipuram.
Ravi are you flying down for your bimonthly trip? No one understands how you can be homesick.
goutham seems to be in Malaya..and the rest?

Aswatha welcome to family madness. Keep writing.
Anandhi, remind us on Aug27th about the two moons.

ooooooooopsss

Envy Gluttony, Thankfully I DONT have the entire set !! please read with the correction !

No Comments Please - Just Post !

So GGs kids name is Dhruv, Dachu, thanks for the retraction we feel better already ,
Could people reply to posts with a post so that we can run through things rather than trawling through comments ,
Good to see that more people are joining in,
Kallu , your explanation of a Rose was nice and boring ( you just have too much time on your hands ) Envy , gluttony etc are some of my sins, thankfully i done have the whole set !
whos coming to cbe for diwali this year, we would like more to come and have fun
we have 3 family functions ( Seer, medha kathu kuthu without the kada vettu, ash arangetram ( my only time i can see Ash dance) on October 17 weekend as well, so please try and come for that as well
Ravi

tks kalu

that was a good reply for the rose, tks . me lleaving for kl in 2 hrs ,raining heavy in singapore, still managed to do my work,ok catch u all later. gou

The Great Day!!!

This coming 27th. of August 2007, at 12.30 am. look up the sky. You will see 2 moons. Believe it or not, up to you.

Two moon on 27 August*27th Aug the Whole World is waiting for………….* Planet Mars will be the brightest in the night sky starting August. It will look as large as the full moon to the naked eye.

This will cultivate on Aug. 27 when Mars comes within 34.65M miles of earth. Be sure to watch the sky on Aug. 27 12:30 am . It will look like the earth has 2 moons. The next time Mars may come this close is in 2287. No one is going to be alive after nearly 2 Centuries?!?!??!

Hi , BIG DOUBT !!!

Could somebody pleaaasssseee tell me what they are naming G.G ka's baby cos so far i've heard from people that he is going to be called - Dhruv, Aadhitya , Arjun, Hari , Harsha, and about 463 other assorted names.... because when i next meet G.Gka , it's going to be pretty embarassing if i say , 'Heyyy ! , how are you ? How's ermmm.. ummm... .... *long pause* , your kid ?? '

CONFUSED =[ !!!

an update

hectic trip to india, mottai at trichy for medha,and some parental duties like going to the school, etc,
only kalai could order food at annapoorna and then order chilly cauliflower at another place,dessert at another place and another item at another place because its better at those places !
back at work , feeling homesick,back for diwali
medha kathukuthu,nandhika seer, hopefully dance arangetram for ash will be on same day , all are invited and hopefully will attend
ravi

Rose is a rose is a rose is a rose

The sentence "Rose is a rose is a rose is a rose." was written by Gertrude Stein as part of the 1913 poem Sacred Emily, which appeared in the 1922 book Geography and Plays. In that poem, the first "Rose" is the name of a woman. Stein later used variations on the phrase in other writings, and "A rose is a rose is a rose" is probably her most famous quote, often interpreted as "things are what they are."

In Stein's view, the sentence expresses the fact that simply using the name of a thing already invokes the imagery and emotions associated with it.
She herself said to an audience at Oxford University that the statement referred to the fact that when the Romantics used the word "rose" it had a direct relationship to an actual rose. For later periods in literature this would no longer be true.

Gertrude Stein (February 3, 1874 – July 27, 1946) was an American writer who spent most of her life in France, and who became a catalyst in the development of modern art and literature

This is to clear Goutham's doubt.

hi every body

ok i am leaving to malayasia and singapore for my further expansion of my business,

hope eveybody will understand this pic i took in my last trip,

back on 18 to chennai,

kapu tks for ur reply

goutham

hi goutham,

you are too busy with worlwide trips and jet setting ,so i dont know where to contact you.


have another conference going on for 3 days.  iam just attending with no talk to give ,but learnt a lot of PRO work today meeting and getting to know the speakers in the workshop as  i am part of the organising team. it made me realise that they also appreciate being approached and enjoy being talked too and are not as aloof as they look. a lesson learnt even if its late!!!.

kapu


 

Anya n Babu

Well, Babu and Anya have come to Ooty and gone via Cbe. You can see from the pics how they spent their time here. :-)
We went shopping for - of all things- a churidhar for Anya to wear in Guruvayur. Something rather hard to find in Ooty.And it turns out, she cant wear that. Sindhu your red skirt has found a new owner.

They do make ideal guests - undemanding, appreciative, interested in everything and restful and very cheerful.

Happy Birthday Sandhya

May your life glow as fresh and bright as this tulip

whats news.

hi everybody,

the cradle for dhruvs naming ceremony looks good.  a change from the usual pattu saree for all our kids.  kalu u and amudha have done a great job. thanks for the comments on noddy. as kalu says more effor on the car than dress.  the cap is stiched from lining material which i bought.  sajit is playing a lot of cricket nowadays and sleeps the rest of the time as he is tired.  so i hardly get to see or speak to him except meal times off course.  nothing can make him miss it.

surya i hear is also into hectic baseball.  good to have some sports in this generation at least.
goutham the snaps are good.  

pics

kalu at her best, maybe getting ready for the future promotion

Khuselan

No, Im yet to see Khuselan. Just lets see who sees it first and puts a review on the blog.
My guess is Ravi's family.

pics

happy grand mother

pics

have a look

pics

happy mama with his great grand son

noddy.

hi everybody,

my patience wore thin and i developed a mild headache by the time sanjus turn came.I went there at 10 and  his turn was at 12.   he recited the song well but was too inhibited to do the few actions that i had carefully rehearsed with him. luckily the school was smart enough to give all participants a book so the fact that he did not get the prize was glossed over.

please see the attached photos taken at home.  

kar glad to see tht u are atleast able to take a few days off for camping.  thats good. here sajit goes to his cricket practise by cycle so my chauffering is limited to mainly sanju.  even then this sunday was hectic dropping off and picking the two alternately for cricket and painting class, buying vegetables, at one place and groceries at the other.  so much so u dont want to go out anywhere.

sindhu , all of us are happy to see some life in u atlast. sajit of course misses u while eating or trying out some crazy food on sundays.

lot of nri visits on this month,  babu and ram and family--darshu i am not commenting on anybody !!!!

back home

after little work in coimbatore and a nice function of gg kid, went well, mama was so happy, most of the crowd was his sivananda colony assocation members, drove back home, as usual kalai was happy to drop few things (car full loaded) in pondycherry on the way back to chennai. me leaving to singapore , malayasia, on 9 th and back in a week, will try to post some pic later
bye...gou

back home

Hey everyone
Its nice to open the blog every morning and get all the family news. And its turning out to be a fun blog. Havent got much time to post here yet.
My one and only post turned out to be very controversial :) sorry if I ruffled any feathers. I amend my statement to say that Dhruv is a very cute baby, just like all the other babies in our family. Medha looks adorable in the photgraph u posted Ravi chitappa :) . And Surya and Sanjay and Uthra and Sajit and Haru and Sindhu.... were all amazingly cute babies
Am here in office on a saturday because i hope to get a compensatory off for this. I need all the leave I can get. For all those planned trips home :) How many people are planning to come to Cbe for deepavali? Ravi chitappa are u gonna make your weekly trip to India during that time?
Sindhu your post was really nice to read. Great to know ur having so much fun.
And Kapu chitti how did the fancy dress go? I kept thinking aobut Sindhus tricycle idea.. but dont really think it will work. How would you fit the thermocol with the pedals in between?
Work tends to get kinda monotonous so wait for the weekends all the time. We have palnned a trip to a beach nearby this weekend, hope we get neough people to come. :) Karthy chitti give me some tips on places I should see.

What's in a name

Back from a star -red naming ceremony altho the king got named
1) Dhruv- Pole Star after the Dhruva -saint . Dhruv also has a host of other meanings, including unshakable
2) Arjun-Peacock
3) Aditya -Sun

Sindhu alias Archana warns of the troubles that having a name beginning with A brings. But A is now in fashion and the list itself in school is long. So says, Ramu , father of Aryaman and Avinash.
Aswata, please give us a post on the travails and nice stuff.

The Penguin book is very interesting and sometime we must dig up everyone's names.

The function grew from a homely one where not many relatives were invited to one which included all the colony and more- including Appa' new found celebrity friend the Mayor. He turned up in his official car with fanfare satisfying everyone. It was held at the Lions Club mandapam behind to accommodate everyone easily.
Food from Annapoorna with outsourcing of cauliflower fry, brinjal and vendakkai chips and lichee pudding - all from different sources. 80 people had lunch.

Decor backdrop and cradle by Amudha in blue and white scheme.

The cradle used was the old traditional one from Selvi-Selva inspite of a spanking new one being available.

Prasanna was the photographer and duly disappointed.

Relatives were representational with Ravi-Sri, Goutham-Gomathi, Manikumari, me and Karthik's parents.

Karthik has produced a wonderful baby book , very neatly and imaginatively presented with his baby and wife.

Someone else has to post photos.

Kar, I take spoken English for the neigbourhood kids twice a week after school. other subjects are taught by a teacher whom we've hired. We meaning, our Foundation ForAGoodoz run by a few college friends.

watch this please

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlfKdbWwruY