One year since that day ....

 Already a year has passed since the day my grandpa passed away ... 365 days just went by and still I can recount the turn of events on that day.

 I still miss ajja ... I may have moved continents far away from home ... but the time spent in ajja's house is fresh. Those were some awesome days I will never be able to forget. Thank you ajja and ajja for all the love and warmth you showered on us ... I may not have expressed my love for you in words ... but I hope you know I truly love you guys !

Vocabulary improvement

 My younger daughter is on a roll these days ... she barely talked except for unintelligible words like dadada, tama, kabakaba, bubbaayeeee etc along with some sensible words like amma, abba (for appa), nana etc. For the past month and a half, she has added several words to her talking list including togoli (take it), All done, (soon after her bath is done) Chikki, Chitatata (chikkappa), kakka, poo poo, illa, beda, yethkoli, alli etc. Sometimes she surprises us with words like Barolla, Kodalla ...

 She is one smart girl who understands almost everything we tell her and communicates in her own way. Observing her interaction with her sister is the most interesting passtime for me and hubby.

 She usually sleeps by herself after dinner when she is in her bed and is given her white blanket. But yesterday, she saw me with her sister and insisted on joining us in the fun. It felt lovely to have both my girls on either side of me. They crawled all over me and I felt like a lioness with her cubs .... but that didn't last too long since both wanted my exclusive attention. Nonetheless the experience was just lovely ! 

Death

It happened again ... the phone rang in the middle of the night ... the news was the same ... a family member's death ... the person this time my cousin ... my doddappa's son.

 I cannot begin to say how much shocked I am. I interacted with him just a few days back during my India visit ... he had no health problems. He had just gone to cheer his daughter participating in a Table Tennis match ... had just written down 12 participants' names .. was writing the 13th one's name when he just collapsed ... and he was gone .. just like that. No words .. no good byes ... gone !

 The family is shattered to say the least ... and is in deep shock.

I feel helpless ... frustrated and pained.

India Vacation

Highlights of my recent trip (July 9 - Aug 2) to India

* Daddy seeing my second daughter for the first time

* Me travelling / vacationing with kids (and MIL) without hubby accompanying us for the first time

* Meeting close family

* Missing to meet close friends (had plans ... but kid falling sick ruined the plans)

* Hogging on home made food (Bisi bele bhath, obbattu, plum cake, nippattu, tengolu, chomai, rumali roti, shalya anna, dry fruits milkshake, jolada rotti, basundi etc etc)

* Visiting new / renovated house of every single relative I visited

* Visit Mysore zoo after decades ... visit Chamundi hills

* Shop every single day of my stay in Mysore.

And what did I like best? Well ... just being in my house with my parents in Mysore !

Forgetful me...

I had it all planned in my head the things I wanted to discuss with my manager before she went on a vacation. The clock ticked 4'o clock ... I reminded myself one last time of the 25 things I needed to discuss.

 I greeted her and sat down for the discussion. Just as I was done with my discussion, I remembered to discuss that last thing I had missed in reminding myself before the meeting. 

 I came out of the meeting feeling all smug about having discussed everything I wanted and more ...

 Only when I was about to call it a day I remembered the entire purpose of the meeting was to discuss the different issues to be taken care during the time my manager was to go on vacation ... I was going to act her backup ... and I forgot to wish her a happy vacation !! 

 I think I'll stick to my idea of writing down all points in a notepad before I head for a meeting ... 

Farm animals party

My daughter's first birthday celebrated last weekend had a farm animals or Baryard theme. My sister and I cut out farm animals, made out a barn, tractor and arranged the same on the table to give a barnyard feel. The cake was specially designed to match the barnyard theme. (actually the bakery did not have exact barnyard cake, so had to give specific instructions to the decorator)

 We also made masks of farm animals and handed the same to all the kids. Guests really appreciated our "DIY" efforts. 

 We played 3 games ... Tail the donkey, Musical chairs and Memory game. The last one was for couples and it was fun watching the parents struggling to remember the list of barn animals they had just seen.

 Food was excellent ... vegetable pakora, chips, water melon served as starters ... Navratan Korma, Dal Makhaani, Naan, Veggie Biryani and Raitha was the main course, Curd rice and Carrot Halwa rounded the menu. Guests really enjoyed the food ... the sad part was we had ordered more food than required fearing shortage. Thus ended up eating the same food for the next 3 days. 

 We had neatly arranged the return gifts in gifts bags. It comprised of a piggy bank (of different farm animals like cow, sheep, duck, pig etc), a craft toy making set, candies and a thank you note. Overall I was quite satisfied with the way we celebrated the birthday.

 Hubby would have preferred summoning someone to entertain the kids I guess... so the next year it will be his way perhaps :) 

24th May - First birthday party

We had our younger ones' first birthday party over the weekend. I was truly amazed and touched by the willingness demonstrated by some of our friends and family to help out . Within minutes after lunch, family and friends helped us clean up the hall and pack up everything (left over food and presents, decorations etc).

 

 It felt really good to be surrounded by such supportive and generous people.

THANK YOU ALL !!! 

2009 - Indian Cabinet Ministers

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Complete-list-of-Cabinet-ministers/articleshow/4590365.cms

 a good list to be aware of !

Milestone ....

 My older daughter has crossed another milestone ... she can ride a bicycle.

 The look on my husband's face on the day she achieved this milestone was priceless. And she achieved this feat on May 5th 2009 ... much before her 5th year birthday ... due in July.

 We bought this bicycle as a present for her second year birthday. At that time, it was too big for her to even sit on it ... her feet were left dangling in the air if we did manage to put her on the seat. For the first few months after the purchase, she avoided going anywhere close to it. Hubby kept encouraging her to get familiar with its parts atleast ... but she would have none of it.

 After pleading and persuading, hubby managed to teach her to ride the bicycle a week before her 3rd year birthday. This was with training wheels though. 

 Ever since, she loved riding her bike and was quite comfortable riding it to grocery stores, library, parks etc. So it was only a matter of time that her training wheels were to come out. 

 This time though it did not take a lot of effort on hubby's part ... she was quite familiar with the parts and could reach the ground with her feet. But she did whine when the training wheels came out ... eventually she learnt to balance and now can't stop gushing about her feat. 

 Congratulations my dear daughter ! You have reached another milestone !

The same milestone your mother reached when she was 10 years old on her BSA SLR. If you are someone like your mother, you'll continue to love riding your bike for many many more years to come !

POWER OUTAGE

Its amazing how life comes to a stand still in the US with a power outage. This morning, with no warnings there was a power outage in our area. A very rare occurrence for sure. We were already tossing in the bed around 5:30am because of the humidity when the power went out. That woke me up instantly.

 I am known in the family for waking up from my deepest sleep within a second the fan in the room is turned off. It was already dawn .. but I didn't know what I could do being awake. So I lay on my bed. The things we missed:

* A fan to keep the room

* Stove to make fresh tea

* Stove to prepare breakfast / pack lunch

* Lights in the hallway / bathroom

* Garage key since the opener wouldn't function

* My cordless phone

* Internet connection

It was almost our entire morning had come to a halt. Thankfully the power resumed around 7:40 am and we were back to our normal morning routine.

Swine Flu

 The news of swine flu is all across the country currently. I got a scare of my life when the teacher from my daughter's school called up to tell me that the school was going to be closed for the next 10 days.

 I rushed to pick her up from school. There were TV crew members in the school campus and the Principal was seen assuring worried parents. I ran to my daughter's class. The teacher wouldn't give much details about the suspected student. But she assured that the student was a suspected candidate and not a confirmed one. She also mentioned that the student did not belong to the class my daughter studied. In fact that student was not in the same wing. (wonder what that means)

 But I drove back home with my girl ... all tensed up.

Family of Nobel Prize winners

 I have subscribed to A.Word.A.Day for more than a year now. Initially I used to read every single word that was sent across and tried to incorporate the word atleast once in a sentence that day. Lately I have not followed all the words and only occasionally practice them.

 But today, I found this interesting piece:

"Winning even one Nobel Prize is a big deal. Marie Curie received two (in physics and chemistry). But then hers was a family of high achievers: her husband, their daughter, and their son-in-law were also Nobel laureates.

Similarly, having one's name turned into a word in the language is a rare feat. Yet there are some, both real and fictional characters, who have accomplished this more than once. This week we feature five such people."

 I researched a little on this and found details about her family. This is what this site had to say:

"The Curie's elder daughter, Iréne, married Frédéric Joliot in 1926 and they were joint recipients of the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1935. The younger daughter, Eve, married the American diplomat H.R. Labouisse. They have both taken lively interest in social problems, and as Director of the United Nations' Children's Fund he received on its behalf the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo in 1965. She is the author of a famous biography of her mother, Madame Curie (Gallimard, Paris, 1938), translated into several languages."

 A very talented family indeed !!

Baby Talk

Its official and crystal clear ... my second daughter's first "Clear / Meaningful" word happens to be "Amma". And she uses it ever so frequently. *
No prizes for guessing whose grinning ear to ear :))


* she jabbers lots of other sounds too like attaiiiii, akkkkkkkaoooo, dadadad, appppppppppp, aaa, yeeee etc

Photo Blog

I came across this photo blog very recently. All pictures are taken in and around Bengaluru.
Brilliant work ...
Kudos to the photographer !!!

Link

Cruel experience

I came to office at usual time 9:10am. I recognized the SUV in the parking lot .. it belonged to my manager. I made notes of the things I wanted to discuss with him today. We usually discussed about pending issues first thing in the morning since we got caught up in meetings almost all day long.
My manager sat in the cubicle next to mine. As I entered my cubicle, I saw my manager's manager by his cubicle. She stood there waiting for something.... perhaps a print out she wanted from him I thought and quietly entered my cubicle. As I settled, I heard some noises of desk/chair being pulled, wires untangled, coins being emptied from lockers etc ... "He must be really searching hard for those print outs" I thought. Someone from the neighboring cubicle even joked "Hey, you seem to have a lot of money" and he said "Yes, I have".
Within 5 minutes or so, everyone seemed settled ... no more voices heard, noises disappeared ... "Back to work" I said to myself and continued to read through the mails in my inbox.
As I was reading through the mails, my manager's manager stopped by my desk and said "Can I see you in my office for a few minutes?" I was surprised at first but nonetheless followed her to her office. We settled into the chairs around the small round table in her office. She started "There has been some changes in our team which might have an impact on you. Today is the last day of your manager in this company". I froze ... didn't I discuss a million things over the past few days with my manager and in none of those discussions was there a hint of his quitting ... didn't he mention even last evening about the slides we needed to include in design sessions to be played early April? Didn't he schedule a meeting only last evening? Was this something he knew about ? Why didn't we have any Knowledge Transfer sessions arranged considering he alone was handling some important stuff? - Many other questions buzzed in my head within a fraction of a second.
My manager's manager continued "I would like you to take on all his responsibilities until we find a suitable replacement". I nodded ... language/words chose to abandon me ... I couldn't speak ... "I'll set aside 1 on 1 time with you on monday to discuss specifics" I mumbled and walked out of her office.
I HAD to talk to my manager to understand what had transpired between last evening and this morning. I went straight to his cube ... but he had left. I hoped to talk to him during the day ... but he never showed up again in office.

Today was my first hand experience of seeing someone being laid off. What's more, he was my reporting manager. The experience was quite chilling to say the least.

Best Batsman Ever

I read this article in Times of India about Virender Sehwag being the best batsman ever.
This set me off thinking if its really true ...

For one, I must admit I haven't seen / followed enough cricket lately to comment authoritatively on this matter. But I do remember seeing Sehwag as a new member of cricket team ... I have seen him in his best form when the runs come so easily that every now and then you look and re-look at the overs and the runs scored and wonder, if this is really happening. I have also seen him fail ... throwing away his wicket so easily ... making me wonder how can someone so consistently fail and yet retain his position in Indian cricket team especially in a country where this sport is only next to God to many.

Haven't we heard the phrase "The Best Batsman" ever so frequently these days ? A couple of good innings and lo behold the batsman is considered the best.

Which brings me to the question who is actually the Best Batsman ... what parameters do you consider important to rate a batsman the best.
Is it technique OR is it strike rate OR is it entertainment OR is it class OR is it high spirit on field OR consistent performance ... what is it ?? Do let me know ...

As for me I have thoroughly enjoyed watching Viv Richards, Azhar and Jadeja's games :)) (did you say they were not the greatest ... well I heard that)

Relax ...take it easy

What do you do when your senior in the company comes to you and says ... "You need to slow down ... take it easy. You are progressing way ahead of the rest of the team!"

Namma Maneyalondu Gubbi

Have you ever heard this kids peom / song?

Such a powerful impact it had on me today.

Its a very simple song where a child narrates a story about a gubbi (sparrow). The gubbi lays eggs which hatch in time ... gubbi feeds the little ones and nourishes and takes care of them ... when one day the little ones grow old enough to fly away from the nest.

Isn't this the story of most of us? Our parents take care of us, raise us ... and then one day we just move to set up our own identity / family etc. Upon hearing this song, my 4 year old daughter felt sorry for the parent gubbi. But was quick to point out, "Amma, the kid gubbi will come and visit the parent gubbi ... right? The kids have not forgotten their parent. When I grow up, I will move out too. But I will be visiting you." she said. What a profound thought!
Easier for her to say this at this time ... but so hard for me to digest it. I am not ready for that as yet ... hopefully I will be ready when time comes.

Oh another interesting thing she pointed out, "Amma I will be in Chikki's house when I am grown up and working and will visit you every weekend". Now why Chikki's house I asked. "Remember you stayed in your mother's brother's house while you worked and visited your parents over the weekend".
I could now see the connection ... Indeed I stayed with my Mama and aunty during my initial days of career in a different town than mine. I visited my parents over the weekend. So my little one decided it was customary to stay in parent's sibling's house while working ... never mind, the sibling stayed 10mins drive from eachother.

Jai Ho ....

So Slumdog Millionaire sweeps the 81st academy awards last night ... Congratulations SDM Team !!
I understand that is a movie about a boy in Mumbai slum ... but I don't buy the argument of this being India's entry to Oscars. Sure many Indians have contributed to the success of the movie ... but it is not completely an Indian movie ... for one its Director is Danny Boyle, producer is Christian Colson ... but I surely believe that A.R.Rehman who won 2 oscars last night for best song (Jai Ho) and best score is a great musician.
Now then again, is Jai Ho his best composition ... well that's debatable. But I am glad that a person of Rehman's caliber won an Oscar. He truly deserves it for some wonderful contributions he has made to Music world.

As for my take on the movie, here it is.

Working Lunch

We have a meeting starting early in the day ... we are told in advance to not bring in Lunch. Its going to be working lunch, we are told.
And so the meeting beings ... its lunch time ... I step out for a minute and return to find No Veggie lunch bags. I let the person responsible for lunch know that there are no lunch options for me ... she points out she had ordered few veggie lunch bags ... and perhaps they were taken. She settles down with her sandwich ... uh??
What about me lady?? You were supposed to make lunch arrangements for everyone ... how can you just sit back and grab a bite?

I hate these working lunch session.

Pet Peeve

I grew up having no pets in our house at any point in time ... and hubby always had pets while growing up. I don't like having pets (cats and dogs) ... hubby thinks that because I have never experienced their unconditional love, I am unable to appreciate them. Perhaps true ... but somehow I cannot thinking of having a pet of my own.... atleast not now. With very little help from outside, hubby and I barely manage to get some rest ... kids, work, housekeeping, cooking etc take up most time.
But my older daughter loves pets ... her love for pets started even when we went out to parks with her in stroller. (she was perhaps about 5-6 months then) She'd get excited seeing pet dogs / cats and clap her hands in joy. No surprises there ... she gets her dad's genes in this department.
So, when her dad asked her what present she wanted for her 4th year birthday, madam promptly requested for a pet. Of course this conversation didn't happen in my presence. Her dad promised her a pet for her 9th birthday provided she convinced mom (thats me) Ever since this conversation, she finds ways and means to convince me to get her a puppy. Everyday as we step out of the house to drop her to school, she asks me, if I still thought pets weren't welcome in house. She also explains how she will take care of it and that, I would have to do nothing special for the pet. She also assures me that pets don't bite their masters and are always faithful.
She has atleast 4.5 years for her 9th year birthday ... but she sure is trying to lure me towards pets.

Padmashri

So Padmashri awards for this year list is here:

Carefully go through the list ... some names stand out more than others ... to me Helen (spelt Helan Khan) stood out the most ... I am still to believe it. So whats the criteria for this award?

And what is it with the list showing the state each awardee belongs to? Why is that so important?
Isn't is sufficient enough to be an Indian ... are these awards quota based as well?

Onake Obavva

Last evening I was trying to explain my daughter who "Obavva" was. (For the uninitiated: Obavva was a brave lady of Chitradurga, wife of a guard, who sacrifices her life to save her kingdom from enemies.)
Try as much I did to explain her the story, I was not able to put the best words to explain Obavva's martyrdom to my daughter. I was reminded to this wonderful song from the Movie "NagaraHavu". (besides being a great movie, it has some unforgettable songs). "Kannada Nadina Veera Ramani" song is one of my all time favorite songs. The rendition by P.B.Srinivas is just great ... but the song is par excellence because of Obavva's act depicted by actress Jayanthi. (in cameo).
This song being my dad's favorite as well ... he had trained me in it when I was barely 8-9 yrs old. I have sung this song in several competitions and have won many prizes. There was this one time when my teacher who was so impressed with my rendition of the song in our school competition suggested I sing the same song for District level singing competition. She even brought a cassette recorder to the competition and recorded my song. The speciality of this song was everytime I sang it, I got teary... so did my teacher. Just went on to show how much my teacher cared for me and our bonding.
Anyways, I digress ... so yesterday, in order to better explain Obavva's story, I played the song to my daughter on youtube. She watched it attentively. Obavva's death in the end started to haunt her... she could never understand why someone as brave as her could be killed ... but she appreciated her bravery and loved the video. She also understood the story much better than what I had tried to explain.

I hadn't heard this song in a very long time ... but yesterday when I heard it, I surprised myself by not only singing along without forgetting the lyrics .... but also crying at the end of the song.
Some songs are so touching, they never fail to stir you.

Circuit City woes

Read Here

Where is this economy going ... only recently Mervyn;s closed down nation wide ...
How many more people are to lose their jobs ???

Slumdog Millionaire

Watched Slumdog Millionaire over the weekend. This movie by Boyle is an adaptation of Vikas Swarup’s Q & A.
There is so much buzz around this movie that I had very high expectations from it. My curiosity grew all the more when Raja Sen (who normally rates movies very low) of Rediff, gave this movie 5 stars.

The movie is good ... not bad at all. But does it deserve all the buzz ... well I am not too sure. It won the Golden Globes. Makes me wonder if all this hype would still be there had the movie been made by an Indian director? Is it lobbying of the movie which has generated this buzz or has it really touched a chord with many?

To me, the movie was good ... the idea great... but the presentation, could have been better. This I say, especially since, some scenes do not portray India or for that matter Mumbai at its glorious best.

Would I recommend the movie ... sure ... will also ask them to go with No expectations.

Shocking ... Satyam

Read this ...

http://deccanherald.com/DeccanHerald.com/Content/Jan72009/national20090107111193.asp?section=updatenews

Shocking to say the least

2009 begins....

I am back to work after a short break ... I had got adjusted quite well to staying home and spending time with family. Hubby could not resist the idea of spending time with family and he decided to take a break as well. It was simply great and relaxing ... but it could have been spectacular if:
* My mom's visa extension did not get rejected on the first day of my break and she had to make immediate plans to leaving the country.
* My sister had told me she would go with mom to India and get some rest. (she had a baby recently and was hoping mom would help her)
* Company did not force me to study for the certifications (I cleared it :))

Did I make that sound as if I had terrible holidays ... well No. We spent as much time as possible with Mom, sister before they left. We went out for lunch / dinner just to get away from cooking. My cousin and his wife visited us and we went to Downtown sight seeing. (any day / anytime ... that will cheer me) We attended a modest New Year Party and I cleared one of the 3 pending certifications.

So, now I am back to work and it doesn't feel too good ... especially since some of the team members have worked during the break and expect others to be doing so as well. So, the first day after break, I am asked to give my inputs on a 90+ functional spec within 2 hrs of handing over the same to me. I almost wanted to yell back at the person who expected that ... but thankfully restrained myself.

2009 has started on a quiet note for me ... anything eventful for you?