In Nikhil's school every year, there is a multi-cultural evening called Heritage Night. Since we have been with the school for 4 years now, we knew what to expect. There is a big crowd of Indians who dress up in Indian clothing. But it was more colorful that what I had expected.
For the past one month, volunteers from our development had coached the kids to do a traditional Gujarati dance. That was one more thing to look forward to. It is always exciting for every mom/dad to watch their kid perform and there were many many parents who went through similar feelings that night.
I had volunteered to help man the India booth. There were so many yummy things people cooked and brought for sampling. People walked around from booth to booth sampling foods of different countries. India booth had delicious sevai upma, besan halwa, fryums, banana chips and gulab jamun which we all digged in along with serving the visitors politely :-)
"Do you want your name written in Hindi in a bookmark?"
Right at the booth, I landed the job of writing the names of visitors (mostly only kid visitors) in Hindi, the National language of India in bookmarks. I enjoyed this task since it put my Hindi writing skills to test. Of course, writing Indian names was easy - but I did have a real challenge with writing American names in Hindi. I managed to survive with Andrew and Zoe! But almost every kid and parents were excited when I wrote the kid's name in Hindi and handed over the bookmark to them. Some even got it written for other kids at home!
My initial reaction before going to the event was "Been there, done that!" But over there I met many folks who are attending this for the first time and seeing them I remembered my excitement of the facing the unknown years back- "when is the fashion parade", "what time is our kids dance"! I realized that the Heritage Night this time takes a new meaning for them. It is these newcomers who keep the spirit going every year!
Sunday, March 13, 2011
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Hurray!
For the past one week, me and my Appa were laboring to submit a Passport renewal application for him using the new website called Passport Seva Portal. He could not successfully get past the login screen at his end in India, so he officially appointed me his travel agent in US. After getting through the creation of application and uploading the documents, we were shocked to note that the Normal appointment at the passport office is too far away for our needs. We needed to get an express appointment to proceed with our plans. Looks like these appointments open up a 8AM IST and they get filled up in no time and you had to wait the next day or another.
Since then my job was to book a Tatkal (meaning instantaneous) appointment - which was not an easy task. Every time I check for the availability of the Tatkal, all I got was "All Tatkal appointments have been booked, please try again later or another day". I kept trying at different times with despair.
Yesterday night, I tried at exact 8AM IST and I could not believe my eyes. I FINALLY saw the tatkal slots listed. My hands were literally shaking because I KNEW these will get filled up in no time. As I picked a slot and clicked "Book Appointment" keeping my fingers crossed, I saw the words "The slot you selected has been taken by another person. Please try again later". My heart sank! All the efforts went futile, I thought.
I knew LATER I may not even get this far. I could see that all the open slots that I had seen a minute earlier for the location I selected within Bangalore were GONE. I just tried another location in Bangalore and voila, I saw just ONE slot. I pounced on it and prayed to all Gods. My dad was doing the same thing from the one end - except that he can't even get as far as I can within the website. And I got the appointment!
I was never THIS happy in the recent past. Phew..! I called Appa to narrate this success story and now we can go ahead with the plans. Interesting experience - frustrating for the whole time but since I finally succeeded - now I have a smile! Little joys of life! Sense of satisfaction and accomplishment - isn't that all we want to take away from any experience!
Since then my job was to book a Tatkal (meaning instantaneous) appointment - which was not an easy task. Every time I check for the availability of the Tatkal, all I got was "All Tatkal appointments have been booked, please try again later or another day". I kept trying at different times with despair.
Yesterday night, I tried at exact 8AM IST and I could not believe my eyes. I FINALLY saw the tatkal slots listed. My hands were literally shaking because I KNEW these will get filled up in no time. As I picked a slot and clicked "Book Appointment" keeping my fingers crossed, I saw the words "The slot you selected has been taken by another person. Please try again later". My heart sank! All the efforts went futile, I thought.
I knew LATER I may not even get this far. I could see that all the open slots that I had seen a minute earlier for the location I selected within Bangalore were GONE. I just tried another location in Bangalore and voila, I saw just ONE slot. I pounced on it and prayed to all Gods. My dad was doing the same thing from the one end - except that he can't even get as far as I can within the website. And I got the appointment!
I was never THIS happy in the recent past. Phew..! I called Appa to narrate this success story and now we can go ahead with the plans. Interesting experience - frustrating for the whole time but since I finally succeeded - now I have a smile! Little joys of life! Sense of satisfaction and accomplishment - isn't that all we want to take away from any experience!
Friday, January 21, 2011
Deceiving Samosas
Once upon a time, in our suburban Philly area, there was only one Indian grocery store. But today within a driving distance of 5 miles, we can find at least 5 or 6 Indian stores.These stores mostly keep Samosas next to the front counter. This is a difficult temptation for me to resist. If you give me the choice of a chocolate cake and a samosa, I will pick samosas any day. Spicy tangy items win over stupid sweet dishes. Except for cheesecake - the only non-desi dessert to which I cannot say No. I am digressing.
This fried item (fried in how many days old oil...hmm..we should not go that route) is more tempting when I am hungry and happened to enter the shop in such a state. Last week was one such occasion and a fresh tray of samosas arrived just then. I asked the shop keeper - "fresh hai kya" and he said "yes, madam". I said - "Pack 2 of those" considering the fact that B hates samosas and I have only been criticized for showing so much love buying extra ones for him.
After putting all purchased groceries in the trunk of the car, I carefully took out the samosa packet from the lot and put it on the passenger seat. I drove to the next stop which was an American grocery store , parked there and decided to eat one samosa. After all they should be savored when they are hot!
One bite and I almost broke the teeth. The samosa was super cold. It looked like the world's most beautiful samosa, but the outer coating was very hard. It was obviously taken out of a fridge just now. When I saw the tray of samosas being delivered in front of my eyes, I assumed they will be hot. I should have learnt my lesson from my previous such experiences.
How many ever shops they may open, the samosas are always cold. The filling is never great. When a mass order of samosas is catered, it is again disappointing to see the poor quality. This post is dedicated to Poor me who still forgets these lessons and keeps buying them with hope!
Friday, January 7, 2011
Snow and hours of phone chatter
Instead of drafting huge pages in my mind and never writing them out - why not, wrote about just TODAY!
We woke up today morning to see snow and the phone rang over and over.
"Is the school closing today? Is there a 2 hour delay? When are they going to make the call or email to us?"
Moms in our neighborhood called each other and said the same thing.
Schools did not make an announcement. B went early to office. I stayed home with Nithin, thanks to my neighbor/friend who offered drop the older one to school.
I made a call to my friend and we ended up talking for 3 hours. We spoke about everything under the sun - a much needed talk for both of us. I have always seen that I rediscover myself or understand my emotions more clearly when I talk to FRIENDS. I hope to have been a help to her also - but it has been months and months since I had that kind of talk with anyone.
I must also admit that talking to a girl friend is a totally different kind of pleasure than talking to guys. There is something totally different with the way girls connect, right! It is not that we have to be talking about nail polish or make up. It is our emotions which make total sense to each other - it would take a lot of explaining to make a man understand them!
I did let my younger one go wild on his computer games as I was chatting away. I felt a little guilty about it. It felt very much like a holiday with not having to drive him to school. I did spend time with him reading and helping him write a Kumon workbook.
In the afternoon, I cuddled up with him and laughed some more. I pretended that I am going away for 2 days and enjoyed him say: 'No, Amma, don't go!' . These little games we play!
We woke up today morning to see snow and the phone rang over and over.
"Is the school closing today? Is there a 2 hour delay? When are they going to make the call or email to us?"
Moms in our neighborhood called each other and said the same thing.
Schools did not make an announcement. B went early to office. I stayed home with Nithin, thanks to my neighbor/friend who offered drop the older one to school.
I made a call to my friend and we ended up talking for 3 hours. We spoke about everything under the sun - a much needed talk for both of us. I have always seen that I rediscover myself or understand my emotions more clearly when I talk to FRIENDS. I hope to have been a help to her also - but it has been months and months since I had that kind of talk with anyone.
I must also admit that talking to a girl friend is a totally different kind of pleasure than talking to guys. There is something totally different with the way girls connect, right! It is not that we have to be talking about nail polish or make up. It is our emotions which make total sense to each other - it would take a lot of explaining to make a man understand them!
I did let my younger one go wild on his computer games as I was chatting away. I felt a little guilty about it. It felt very much like a holiday with not having to drive him to school. I did spend time with him reading and helping him write a Kumon workbook.
In the afternoon, I cuddled up with him and laughed some more. I pretended that I am going away for 2 days and enjoyed him say: 'No, Amma, don't go!' . These little games we play!
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
SAHM Experience so far
Month 5 is on the run. The first month was spent in India. The next months flew by with gearing up with school and kids activities.
Phase I:
Initially, I was worried about what people's reaction would be on my decision. Every time I have to tell someone I would worry about what they are going to say. I would pray they say something of the sorts that would not call me dumb. To my own surprise, I got more positive reactions about making the decision than otherwise.
Taking a break from career was not looked down upon. Especially friends who knew me well, thought it was right to spend some time with kids - especially where they are young. Most did not have a doubt about me getting back into the career because of my work experience. Most would love to do that and could not afford to do that due to financial commitments.
Everyone trusted that being here in America, we had the freedom to take a break and not having to worry about coming back to the career world. We see so many who change their careers drastically. So nothing is impossible.
OK..the initial reactions were positive. Some cautioned me not to take too long a break. It could mean that you could risk your position in the job market. I agree with that.
Phase II: First few months at home
The questions were like this: "OK, how do you pass time each day?"
"What do you all day?"
"When are going back to work?"
Hmm..I was irked by some and smiled at some. With two kids, I am still planning each hour of my day. My day revolves around their calendar. Their drop off, pick up, activities and school projects. Especially with the younger one going to school for just 4 hours, pick up time arrives before I finish up my groceries or cooking and there I am rushing to pick him up. I took up more social responsibilities with planning and executing of events or participating more actively. So that keeps me busy too.
One things is true - I am EARLY for most appointments. I was early at the gym before the class trying to kill time on treadmill before the instructor arrived. I was an hour early for a doctor's appointment and went to their cafeteria and grabbed a coffee to kill time. I consciously try to be not late for anything and I am so obsessed with looking at the clock and reverse-planning everything based on a deadline.
Another FACT is that - you think that you will have the best vacation of your life when you take a career break. It is true that you get more time to do everything and you can pay more attention to details on most tasks. But down the lane, it is not a vacation - but you are caught in a routine-bubble now.
Remember, when you took a day off from work and how every minute was precious that day. Well, now everyday is at your hands - but still you cannot think OUT OF THE BOX that easily anymore. You have to consciously PUT EFFORT to REMIND yourself to DO THOSE THINGS you DREAMT OF DOING WHEN YOU WONT BE WORKING. Because otherwise you might just flow with the mechanical routine - it is not work related, but home related now.
Phase III: With my in laws leaving back to India, this is my next phase. I am all by myself with the kids and B. The first two days were awfully quiet and cadaverous at home. (Confession: Cadaverous is a new word I learnt helping out with my son's school project. It means: deathly, pale). I am slowly getting used to it.
Kids like me this way - less stressed and relaxed. Once in a while, a worry creeps up in the back of the mind. When should I start looking for a job? Is it too late already? I tell myself I still have something more to achieve from this conscious break. And I go on!
Too long a post, eh? When you guys said "I do", you did not know what you were getting into!
Chuckle!
Phase I:
Initially, I was worried about what people's reaction would be on my decision. Every time I have to tell someone I would worry about what they are going to say. I would pray they say something of the sorts that would not call me dumb. To my own surprise, I got more positive reactions about making the decision than otherwise.
Taking a break from career was not looked down upon. Especially friends who knew me well, thought it was right to spend some time with kids - especially where they are young. Most did not have a doubt about me getting back into the career because of my work experience. Most would love to do that and could not afford to do that due to financial commitments.
Everyone trusted that being here in America, we had the freedom to take a break and not having to worry about coming back to the career world. We see so many who change their careers drastically. So nothing is impossible.
OK..the initial reactions were positive. Some cautioned me not to take too long a break. It could mean that you could risk your position in the job market. I agree with that.
Phase II: First few months at home
The questions were like this: "OK, how do you pass time each day?"
"What do you all day?"
"When are going back to work?"
Hmm..I was irked by some and smiled at some. With two kids, I am still planning each hour of my day. My day revolves around their calendar. Their drop off, pick up, activities and school projects. Especially with the younger one going to school for just 4 hours, pick up time arrives before I finish up my groceries or cooking and there I am rushing to pick him up. I took up more social responsibilities with planning and executing of events or participating more actively. So that keeps me busy too.
One things is true - I am EARLY for most appointments. I was early at the gym before the class trying to kill time on treadmill before the instructor arrived. I was an hour early for a doctor's appointment and went to their cafeteria and grabbed a coffee to kill time. I consciously try to be not late for anything and I am so obsessed with looking at the clock and reverse-planning everything based on a deadline.
Another FACT is that - you think that you will have the best vacation of your life when you take a career break. It is true that you get more time to do everything and you can pay more attention to details on most tasks. But down the lane, it is not a vacation - but you are caught in a routine-bubble now.
Remember, when you took a day off from work and how every minute was precious that day. Well, now everyday is at your hands - but still you cannot think OUT OF THE BOX that easily anymore. You have to consciously PUT EFFORT to REMIND yourself to DO THOSE THINGS you DREAMT OF DOING WHEN YOU WONT BE WORKING. Because otherwise you might just flow with the mechanical routine - it is not work related, but home related now.
Phase III: With my in laws leaving back to India, this is my next phase. I am all by myself with the kids and B. The first two days were awfully quiet and cadaverous at home. (Confession: Cadaverous is a new word I learnt helping out with my son's school project. It means: deathly, pale). I am slowly getting used to it.
Kids like me this way - less stressed and relaxed. Once in a while, a worry creeps up in the back of the mind. When should I start looking for a job? Is it too late already? I tell myself I still have something more to achieve from this conscious break. And I go on!
Too long a post, eh? When you guys said "I do", you did not know what you were getting into!
Chuckle!
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Anyone listening?
I can hear you muttering : -"If only you spoke?"
Can you do me a favor? Can you put a comment in this post, so I know who all might be reading me - it helps to think of different people I know and may be some I don't know to think of what and how I may write..
Will you please autograph here?
TIA!
Can you do me a favor? Can you put a comment in this post, so I know who all might be reading me - it helps to think of different people I know and may be some I don't know to think of what and how I may write..
Will you please autograph here?
TIA!
Monday, October 4, 2010
Endhiran experience
Thanks to a close friend who let me know that 'Endhiran' was in town. We booked the tickets online after a lot of thinking. The weekend schedule was already tight - but I had to fit in the Tamil movie in theater anyway.
Reasons are the following.
I am still as young at heart as to feel the desire to watch a movie in theater. During my India trip, I interviewed a lot of people (friends and family) - most of the people in my age have given up watching movies in theater due to various reasons. I was telling myself - I still love watching them in theaters and would do it anytime provided I hear good reviews.
Watching an Indian movie in theater is a rare happening in the area that I live. Especially Tamil or Malayalam movies get screened very rarely.
I had not watched 'Endhiran' clips at all since we don't have SUN TV at home now. So everything I see would be new to me.
But the very fact that the story line and dialogues for the movie come from the author I adore - SUJATHA alias S.Rangarajan - was enough for me to go see it.
Other super compelling factors were, of course, Rajini and Shankar.
I did not know whether my family would blame for taking them to the movie - but I was willing to take the risk.
It was a risk worth taking.
As we drove near the theater following the directions in GPS, we felt reassured to see Desi faces and cars. I felt like I am home. Watching the people at the popcorn stall, corridor and the row of seats just before us, I could feel the connection with them. What binds us together was the hope to see a good movie based on our experiences with Shankar, Rajini, ARR and Sujatha.
Not only did I enjoy the movie, but my boys loved it too. Thanks to subtitles and wonderful special effects, B was entertained very well.I was laughing at Chitti's innocent questions - could see Sujatha's naughtiness in them very well. Special effects were exemplary and I have never seen anything to compare in any other Indian movie. Of course, the theme is very well known to me as I grew up reading multiple short stories and novels by Sujatha - so I could agree with it more so ever. The narration of the story is captivating. The events unfold one after other, in an unpredictable sequence. I could not guess what would happen next. Strong screen play and dialogues. Rajini's acting as the bad guy, Chitti and Vasee was awesome.
As I grew up, I was a Kamal fan.It was almost like a religion to us - are you a Kamal fan or Rajini fan was the question among cousins. Now after these years, watching this Rajini movie in US theater, I felt so thrilled and excited because I am proud that this wonderful attempt was made in Tamil. I admire Rajini for what he is - a great entertainer. Hats off to Shankar for realizing this!
Reasons are the following.
I am still as young at heart as to feel the desire to watch a movie in theater. During my India trip, I interviewed a lot of people (friends and family) - most of the people in my age have given up watching movies in theater due to various reasons. I was telling myself - I still love watching them in theaters and would do it anytime provided I hear good reviews.
Watching an Indian movie in theater is a rare happening in the area that I live. Especially Tamil or Malayalam movies get screened very rarely.
I had not watched 'Endhiran' clips at all since we don't have SUN TV at home now. So everything I see would be new to me.
But the very fact that the story line and dialogues for the movie come from the author I adore - SUJATHA alias S.Rangarajan - was enough for me to go see it.
Other super compelling factors were, of course, Rajini and Shankar.
I did not know whether my family would blame for taking them to the movie - but I was willing to take the risk.
It was a risk worth taking.
As we drove near the theater following the directions in GPS, we felt reassured to see Desi faces and cars. I felt like I am home. Watching the people at the popcorn stall, corridor and the row of seats just before us, I could feel the connection with them. What binds us together was the hope to see a good movie based on our experiences with Shankar, Rajini, ARR and Sujatha.
Not only did I enjoy the movie, but my boys loved it too. Thanks to subtitles and wonderful special effects, B was entertained very well.I was laughing at Chitti's innocent questions - could see Sujatha's naughtiness in them very well. Special effects were exemplary and I have never seen anything to compare in any other Indian movie. Of course, the theme is very well known to me as I grew up reading multiple short stories and novels by Sujatha - so I could agree with it more so ever. The narration of the story is captivating. The events unfold one after other, in an unpredictable sequence. I could not guess what would happen next. Strong screen play and dialogues. Rajini's acting as the bad guy, Chitti and Vasee was awesome.
As I grew up, I was a Kamal fan.It was almost like a religion to us - are you a Kamal fan or Rajini fan was the question among cousins. Now after these years, watching this Rajini movie in US theater, I felt so thrilled and excited because I am proud that this wonderful attempt was made in Tamil. I admire Rajini for what he is - a great entertainer. Hats off to Shankar for realizing this!
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