Great party

The efforts put it by our party committee definitely paid off well. It was a well organized party with games and performance. Dress code was black and/or red. It was a treat to the eyes to see all dressed up. I myself wore a red saree which is 10 years old now. It is the saree I wore for the register wedding part of my wedding. Well, there was no time to relive memories as it was a busy day and a busy night.

Afternoon, we practiced our songs with the instruments and the mics/music system installed in our basement. And we awaited the evening!

Ours was the last but one item. I must say it has been ages since I stepped on any stage. We all sat comfortably with our instruments and even though I had never had trouble with stage fright before, why was my throat getting dry all of a sudden? We smiled at the audience, I spoke some introductory words impromptu and here we began. Singing in a microphone does boost one's confidence.

First song was 'Ajeeb Dastan Hai Ye' - an old Hindi melody. It is an easy, smooth sailing song - we sailed through it comfortably. Next was our key number - it is the song 'Give Me Some Sunshine' from 3 Idiots. We even called ourselves 5 idiots! It involved more coordination than the other song. But looks like the 'na na na' caught the audience - they asked for once more. After all, they have to support us - we live in the same neighbourhood..hehe! We sang it again and we felt on top of the world. B sang a solo from Guns And Roses. Frankly I was running around hunting for our camcorder to record his song and missed most of his song. Nikhil participated in a group dance by kids.

The rest of the night, I saw many talented singers among the folks there. We enjoyed a karoke session (again impromptu!) with old Hindi songs. Dance floor was open as usual. B and I enjoyed a lot more after the kids were asleep. It was fun! It is ironical that even though B and I both can sing and he can play guitar, we never play music together at home - this event brought a new beginning, I hope! I also hope to enjoy some music sessions with our co-players at the valentine concert in future.

Guitar, Mouth Organ, Tabla, Vocal = Our Band

In the development that we live, there is a lot of Indian population. We do parties by renting a hall couple of times a year where the folks showcase their talents. This means dance practices for kids of different ages weeks before the event. Kids do individual performances as well as group. It is fun to party with this group. Nikhil has been taking part for couple of times.

This time couple of folks who could play instruments just tried getting together one night and we tried out singing songs as a band. It was not a planned thing, it just happened impulsively. And it turned out good. It is 4 or 5 of us meeting every night this week at our home. We play music and sing preparing for the performance tomorrow. We enjoy it - it has been a while each of us has done this - B fingers ache strumming the guitar. I wish had practiced singing more.

We have mouth organ expert and tabla/drums expert doing their part. We are having fun. Hope we give a decent performance tomorrow.

This reminds me of the songs I have sung in farewell events (chalte chalte..my classmates tease me for always singing this song..!), the duet I sang with a senior in college day celebration, the group songs in school and what not. I am excited to have been singing after a long time. Wish us luck!

Quite a different week

Snow..snow..more snow..that is what it was. Schools were closed for two days. Office was closed for 2 days. Finally it ended yesterday night some time.

The difference this time is I dared going outside. For the weekend snow, I was too cold and lazy. Poor B did all the shoveling, nothing new there. This time, I was feeling guilty and wanted to help out at least a little bit. And wow..I really enjoyed it. Do you remember the math problem from school..when 3 men did x amount of work in y days, how many days will 9 men take to complete it..blah blah..What I mean is when both of us did it together, it got over quickly. There was so much snow on the road..that I could sit on it and make a chair for myself. B took pictures of me shoveling. It was fun. We dare not get Nithin outside - he is just recovering from the fever and cold.

In a way, I felt great to be part of history. Mayor Nutter's messages kind of made me feel proud. He said he is proud of citizens of Philadelphia the way they are dealing with these back to back snow storms. We just stayed home and worked remotely..still when you get any compliment, don't you feel great?

It was funny to watch in TV the folks who were driving to grocery stores in the middle of snow storm - they were having different cravings and they set out to make cake/chili etc. It is true that you crave for something that is not there - like, I was missing Instant Coffee since we were out of it. Also, in the cold weather, people do tend to miss their comfort foods and they give in to the cravings. As soon as I saw it, I started craving 'puris' and thanks to B who catered to the wishes of me and kids. We had puris for dinner yesterday.

Isn't that enough update on the snowy week days?

Waiting for Snow

Weather forecast said it will start from 12pm. Schools dismissed at 2 o'clock. I am working from home to avoid the yucky drive in the afternoon. Groceries are done since yesterday. It is supposed to snow all night and tomorrow. I am ready! Where are you, snow?
It feels like you got a nice seat in a cinema theatre and you are waiting for the movie to start. 'Padam eppo aarambippaanga?'
When will the movie start?

Birthday Fun

The annual physical exams for both B and I were scheduled exactly on my birthday. So we both took off from work, dropped the kids off and reached the doctor's office at 9AM. Good news - my weight had not increased even though we all think it looks like it! We were out of docs, getting ready to watch Avatar in IMAX 3D. We grabbed a coffee and bagel before the movie.

Avatar was great. I am not so much of a 'sci-fi' person, so I was skeptical about it. I loved the concept behind it as much as the IMAX and 3D. 3D was not like thinngs jumping at you - but the realistic portrayal of Pandora. It felt like we are in Pandora doing all the things in nature and greenery ourselves. Absolutely beautiful!

After the movie, we stopped for lunch at Bahama Breeze. Nice lunch and then back home in time to receive Niks when he comes from school. After both the kids were home, Nikhil wanted to go out for birthday dinner. The fact that B and I roamed enough and got tired did not matter.
We took them to the Food Court in the mall, where we finished a long pending work.Oh, Nikhil gave me a cute gift of a hair clip, a lipstick and a car freshener - all bought with his pocket money when B and he went to grocery shopping. I love eating out. I love movies. I love to talk endlessly to B when kids are not distracting the conversation. That is when we get a lot of things planned and sorted out. I did all of this yesterday.All in all, a great relaxing day with the men in my life.
The day was made beautiful by the pouring emails and FB and orkut scraps from friends. It was a truly special birthday!

He amazed me

Of late, I have been carrying tension and worries from work place to home. In the evenings, it is about getting up early and driving 45 minutes to work. For a change, last Friday, when I got a verbal acknowledgement from my manager that my work is on track, I felt I should hold on to that for that whole weekend.

I left home to take Nikhil to his close friend's birthday party. My mind was light and I was joking to him and teasing him. We got on the car..and I decided to test him.

Wanting to see if he has noticed anything about my mood, I asked him.

"Hey Niks, what do you think about Amma today?"

I worded it such that it does not give him any clues that I am asking about my mood today. I wanted to see if he interprets it that way and if so, what does he think about my mood.

He said: "Amma, you are joyful and happy today"!

I was astonished - not only did he figure the meaning I intended, he also responded with the correct answer. It is true that the kids can see what all emotions we are going through. It affects them more than what we imagine. And they can understand everything!

I told him 'Kutta, I am impressed how well you read my mind'!

Hakuna Matata

We rented the Lion King CD from the library the other day. Nithin has been playing it over and over in the car since then. He demands a song by number and it has to be replayed till eternity. After couple of reruns, you start hating that song.

But this song left me pondering and wishing for a state of "Hakuna Matata" - a state of no worries - it is a 'problem-free' philosophy.

A big change in me in the recent years is something I never used to do before. Worrying has become my hobby now. I find it so hard to control my mind when the thoughts spin and spin.

Looking from the outside world, I am in a comfortable state and there should be many blessings I have to count. I do recognize that and I am grateful for my life. But all said and done, I have become much more emotionally weak than even before. Different people have different worries. Mine has been related to job/work/career for sometime now. The layoff experience has left me petrified. Adjusting to new work life has been an uphill. It is getting better - I would compare it to the first few months with a new born baby. People say it gets better over months - but each day has to pass, it is a struggle every day - feeding and diapering and wondering why he/she cries. Some days are easy, some are crazy, but no matter what you have to live through this phase to get to a point where you can enjoy the baby. I think that is what I am going through now. Taking life one day at a time!