All is well

L underwent a minor surgery today for her current medical condition. By His grace everything went off well and the operation was successful. L is slowly recovering and is expected to be back to normal in the next couple of weeks

Thanks to all of our well-wishers for your kind words and prayers!!

Happy B'day Sivaji (Rao)

Today's is Rajini's (born Shivaji Rao Gaekwad) 58th b'day. A very happy b'day to Tamil cinema's undisputed superstar

Inspite of his not so great histrionics like Kamal, his funny tamil diction, his receding hairline, his kozhi-kaal, his color (as fair is considered superior than black for whatever reason) and any other thing that you can count against him, there is a distinct magnetic charm about him that has worked really well for him and has made him click....in a reallllllly big way. Not to mention his down-to-earth attitude inspite of his superstardom, which has only kept his fanbase growing...

Thanksgiving Dinner!!

I have been in the US for 11 years now and I have been to only one American style Thanksgiving dinner so far. Most of the times, it's only vacation/shopping and never has it a been home cooked meal. At least until this year.

L and I have been married for 5.5 years and this is our 6th Thanksgiving together. L decided that it was high time to make a traditional (also vegetarian) dinner at home. She managed to prepare a delicious 6 course menu for us for dinner. The menu comprised of Green bean casserole, creamy polenta with spinach, baked asparagus with pistachios and almonds, fried potatoes, blueberry sauce and dinner rolls. Each of the these items need at least a post on their own to elaborate how good it was. They were absolutely delicious with the blueberry sauce being the clear winner followed closely by the rest

L also made some cheese quesadilla for Vidyuth. Vishruth had to be content with his paruppu saadham :-)

Overall it was a night/feast to remember!!

Happy Thanksgiving

L had a Thanksgiving potluck at work today for which she made some awesome mix-veg-aval-uppuma and cucumber raita ( I took the same for lunch too)

We had a potluck at my work last week for which I took (read "bought") some plum cake :-)

L also made some rava kesari for Vidyuth, which she couldn't make for his b'day due to lack of ravai. Vidyuth and his best-friend-at-home Akruthi immensely enjoyed the same

Here's wishing everyone a very Happy Thanksgiving!! We don't have special plans and we plan to just catch up on - sleep, talk time (L and I, not with kids), some of the Deepavali movies and a few other things....

Without a Trace

I love watching TV shows that deal with cops investigating crimes. Among my favorites are "Law & Order SVU", "Law & Order" and more recently "Without a Trace". I happened to catch a show of "Without a Trace" that really moved me, without a trace of doubt:-). It was about a missing person, a 17 year old guy, and how they actually find him eventually. They initially inform his parents, based on initial leads, that their son may be a drug addict and could have died when a deal went wrong and several other parent-shocking speculations.

The cops then discover a dead body matching the profile and description of this missing person. They inform the parents of the missing guy and ask them to come to morgue to make a positive identification. From this point on the next 10 minutes of the show was really very gripping and moving. The actors who played the role of the parents were so brilliant it was almost impossible to believe that they were acting. The subtle emotions, the crisp dialogues etc were really well executed. Anyways, eventually when they do see the body, as I had prayed, it turns out that it is not their son. They eventually find their son who has been kidnapped and he returns safely to them. Not all the shows have a happy ending, but this one inspite of falling in that category, really moved me a lot

Prayer brings victory - in good times and bad times

Like I mentioned in one of my previous posts, I'm not a very religious person, but I certainly believe in the existence of a supreme power above that controls everything that happens in this world. Like most of the mortals out there, I too think of God only when there is a problem. May be that attitude of mine should change. May be I should think of God more often. May be that's why He has been giving me enough to worry about (for the last 7 months in particular), that I keep thinking of Him all the time now. Funny that I now find time to think of Him when all these days when the times weren't this bad, that I conveniently forgot about His existence. May be this is a signal for me learn to pray in good time and bad times. May be this is a reminder to be thankful for what I have and not lament about what I don't. May be this is a reminder to me of my high school's famous motto "Prayer brings victory". Now that He has manged to gain my attention, I want to share a prayer that has helped me stay afloat in troubled times before

God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change;
the courage to change the things I can;
and the wisdom to know the difference

In Love We Trust

I read this quote recently and wanted to share it with the readers of this blog. "You can trust someone without loving them, you can't love someone without trusting them"

It's a very true statement and full credit goes to the person who thought of the above

Vidyuth's Birthday Party

Vidyuth had his 4th birthday celebrations at Kids Castle, a kid fun/activity center with lot of interesting stuff for kids and some terrific pizza (more on that later). The only thing that I don't like about the place is that they give you the room only for 1 hour exactly to cut the cake, eat the food. You can then relocate to the common area and the kids can play for as long as they possibly can, but you have to vacate the private room within 1 hr.

With the guest list being mostly Indians observing IST timings in a PST city, things actually got a little tense. This is inspite of the evite clearly telling people to arrive by 12:20pm so that the party can start at 12:30pm. Though we had the room from 12:30pm to 1.30pm, most of the guests arrived only around 12:55pm. Vidyuth cut the cake around 1.00pm and then for the next 30 minutes all of us feasted on the cake (Tres Leche from Safeway) and Pizzas (Pav bhaji pizza, panner tikka pizza, indian veggie pizza, cheese pizza) before hurriedly vacating the room to the common area

With Vishruth crying throughout, L (having leg and stomach pain) and I were taking turns holding him and he eventually dozed off on my shoulder and I took the liberty to lay him down on a friend's stroller so that I could grab a bite (or slice??)

All the kids had lots of fun and the parents had a tough time convincing the chilren when it was time to leave. All in all it was a really good party and Vidyuth enjoyed every bit of it. This concludes the 4th elaborate and successful event that we have organized this year - Vishruth ayushahomam, Vishruth B'day, Navarathri and this one.

Baking....Piece of cake (not for me)!!

This year I wanted to bake a cake for my Vidyuth's birthday. Considering my not-so-great culinary skills which L and the kids have been tolerating when L doesn't cook, I was quite nervous about venturing into baking. Somehow I mustered all my courage and decided to go ahead and bake one for him

I quickly checked with a neighbor who I knew could bake eggless cakes and jotted down a recipe for a Chocolate cake. Headed out to the supermarket and rounded up all my ingredients (225g AP flour, 100g butter, 1 can condensend milk, 1tsp baking soda, 1 tsp baking powder, 2Tsp sugar, limitless melted chocolate, 1tsp cocoa, 1tsp coffee powder, 2-3drops of vanilla extract). Mixed all the dry ingredients and wet ingredients separately. Then slowly mixed them both together to make the batter. I had to add some milk to get the desired consistency. Baked it in an oven at 400F for about 30 minutes and lo and behold....The cake was done considering that the knife I poked it with came out clean

Before Vidyuth cut the cake, I topped it with some whipped cream and decorated it with loads of M&M candy as they are Vidyuth's favorite. We lit the candle and sang the b'day song and Vidyuth took the first bite. He and his best friend Akruthi enjoyed the top portion (read M&M and whipped cream) and didn't like the bottom portion (read the cake that I baked...sob..sob) and told me "appa, i don't like the cake" in his no-longer-annoying whining voice. I was certainly disappointed that he didn't like it but atleast I got a true appraisal without any sugar coating - which means that I will certainly get my act together the next time I bake a cake

L had some interesting comments - flour is overpowering the chocolate, bit hard for kids, overall pretty decent for first attempt and definitely reflected what I felt as well

We also gave some of the cake to Akruthi's parents and also to my neighbor who gave the recipe. The neighbor who provided the recipe actually said that she liked it. Not sure if she didn't want to criticize her own recipe or if she was just being polite

Anyways since I have gotten my feet wet (my eyes too since Vidyuth didn't like it :-)), I hope to make the next one better by making it a bit more kid friendly - use eggs for fluffiness, extra chocolate etc

Happy Birthday Vidyuth

My son Vidyuth is turning 4 today. Here's wishing him a very happy birthday and our blessings to him for a fun-filled day - Thatha/Patti, Appa/Amma, Vishruth

November Maadham

I usually like to watch any movie directed by Mani Rathnam and "Alaipayuthey" was no exception. I really enjoyed the movie for it's never-before-handled-theme and Mani's brilliant direction. One of my favorite scenes is where the house owner of place where Shalini-Madhavan live advises Maddy "Vittu kodukkanum pa...". Though the context in which it is told is meant for a spousal one, I think it's very true and pertinent in any relationship - between friends, mother-daugher, father-in-law-son, brother-sister and on and on....After all what is life without a little give and take (note that give comes before take :-)). Simply following this golden advise would solve most issues in any relationship. But are things really that simple like taking a Tylenol for a head-ache?? I guess not....

In case you wondered the reason for the title, it is taken after the "September maadham" song in that movie

First earth quake experience

We have made it a routine to visit the local Hindu temple on Tuesday evenings. (start digression) We are not very religious or anything like that, but firmly believe in a divine power that controls everything from above (end digression). We were planning to do that on Tuesday October 30th as well. L however had a bad headache and wanted to backout and suggested that I still go with Vidyuth. For some reason, I didn't want to leave her/Vishruth at home and go just with Vidyuth. I insisted that either all of us go together and or all of us stay back. I casually (I'm certainly not psychic) remarked "What if an earthquake happens when I'm away". So we decided to skip the visit and planned to do it on another day

We finished dinner and then around 8.00pm when we were all sitting in the living room, we felt that the floor was shaking. We initially thought that some kids were running real hard outside on the corridor but within secs we realized it was an earthquake. All the golu dolls that we still had on the steps were shaking and we just ran outside with the kids. We waited outside for a few mins and also noticed that our neighbors were outside as well

It was certainly a scary experience (though it was only 25-30 secs) but fortunately there was no damage of any kind. Most of the people in the bay area that I spoke to had experienced it as well

Happy Deepavali!!

Today is Deepavali (Festival of Lights). Though we typically wear new clothes, burst crackers, eat a lot of sweets/snacks, see all special programs on TV and visit relatives on this festive day when in India, today is like any other work day being in the US. Of course we relished on the goodies prepared by L for this occassion.

Best wishes for a very Happy Deepavali to one and all, and may peace, love, joy and prosperity be all around you!

Day full of treats....no tricks!!

My 33rd birthday was very special indeed. L planned as much as she could considering that she was just recovering from pain after her stupendous marathon on Oct 21st. She baked a Banana bread cake topped with some cereal on 25th night. She made me crispy fried green beans and french onion soup for dinner on 26th (my birthday).

Not satisfied without giving me a delicious 4-course, she made Veggie fried rice and Veggie manchurian for dinner on Saturday. All of the above were incredibly tasty as was evident from what was leftover (or not left over). She also got me a nice T-shirt, jeans and a cute ring

To sum it up, my birthday and the days preceeding and following it were full of treats....no tricks!!

Happy Birthday Guru

Here's wishing a very happy birthday to my dearest Guru.

Nike- You can Do it - I JUST DID IT:)) 26.2 miles

I did it! I completed 26.2 miles in 7hrs 38mins hours on October 21st, 2007 for the Nike Women's Marathon. I had initially signed up to run the marathon but with multiple injuries (on my knee and ankle), I decided to walk it. The weather was perfect, the course was awesome(except some treacherous hills). It was an amazing experience and chances are that I will do one again (maybe a 1/2 next year and a full marathon in a couple of years).

It was the furthest I'd ever walked in my life, on a perfectly clear, sunny and mild Sunday morning, with all my walking buddies, my peerless mentors, coach Al, Mama Lisa, coach Ron, Coach Susan and the whole east bay rockin' team pouring it on.

What a rush; all those people from all over the US and Canada, running for all the angels and heroes named on the backs and fronts and sides of their shirts. All those loving and supportive family members, co-workers, friends and loved ones, cheering and encouraging and snapping photos and making a joyful noise helped a lot of us get through the last mile (BOY, it was the longest mile I have ever walked:)! The Nike was a freaking blast, and I finished upright, feeling strong and powerful.

GO TEAM!!

“As an athlete, when you least expect it, you may find yourself standing on the threshold of an accomplishment so monumental that it strikes fear into your soul. You must stand ready, at any moment, to face the unknown. You must be ready to walk [or run] boldly through the wall of uncertainty.” ~
John “The Penguin” Bingham

Happy Birthday Father(-in-law)

Today's is L's dad's birthday. Here's wishing him a very happy birthday

Navarathri Celebrations - Golu

Our Golu this year

Navarathri Celebrations - Curtain Raiser

One of the things we do religiously every year in our house is the Navarathri celebrations. We actually take a lot of pride it and try to do it as sincerely as we can. Preparations are on in full swing in our for Navarathri this year. L and I have a ton of work to do. L is in charge of setting up the Golu steps, Golu, preparing Sundal for all the people who'll be visiting us to see the decoration. I'm in charge of ensuring that there will be enough sweets/savories for the visitors, preparing gift bags (or goodie bags as we are used to calling them now) for the ladies and the children

We both will have a lot of work for the next few days particularly on Friday and Saturday as we will have a ton of people visiting. We plan to visit our friends' Golu on Sunday

A real challenge this time will be to ensure that Vishruth doesn't climb up the steps or brings the house (or Golu) down :-) Vidyuth isn't much of a concern as he is going to be running around with the kids non-stop

More updates on the event will be posted at a later time....

Happy Birthday Brother(-in-law)

Today's is my brother-in-law (L's brother) Ram's birthday. Here's wishing him a very happy birthday.

Happy Birthday (Belated) Periappa

October 4th was my periappa's birthday. The least I could do to a man who has helped me and my family selflessly for all the time that I have known him, was to remember and wish him on that day. I didn't (and I feel ashamed and that's really how I feel). Here's wishing him a very happy (belated) birthday!!

What parents want!!

Back in my early childhood days in the early 80s, I distinctly remember that every other parent (mother and/or father) wanted their kids to either be an Engineer (or) a Doctor. Any other profession/degree such as Sociology (or) Arts was totally ridiculed and was almost a taboo. Even participation in extra-curricular activities such as sports, music always took a back seat comparted to academics. I must say that I was certainly lucky in that regard, for my parents never forced anything on me and gave me full freedom and independence to pursue (or not pursue) whatever I wanted

Fast forward the clock to 2007, I have 2 kids now and the trend that I observe with present day parents is this. Not only do they want their kids to excel in academics, they also want their kids (even if they are as young as 3) to learn music, arts, martial arts, dancing. One of the parents that I know even boasted that his kid is learning archery...at age 5...is he kidding??? While it is certainly none of my business to dictate what each parent should do, my views on this topic is pretty clear.

I want my children to first of all enjoy their childhood. I want them to get drenched in the rain without worrying about catching a cold, play hard outside that they are covered in mud. L and I share the vision that we will certainly encourage them to try out new activities that they want to try, but not obsess that they are the Numero Uno in that activity. That is, we will not expect them to be a Picasso if they take up painting.... well you get the idea!!!

L and I want to be there for them for positive encouragement and be a launch pad for them and expose them to wide variety of things in way that it nurtures their natural curiosity as children. I will certainly want to encourage independent thinking, kindness towards fellow human beings and helping the underprivileged. I certainly want them to have a mix of basic academic knowledge, solid analytical thinking and an overall personality development. Again, all of the above are only my thoughts and certainly L and I will make a conscious effort to not to force even the above but merely steer them towards that

In short, we would be very satisfied at the end of the day if our children are some relatively unknown good human beings rather than really popular and talented jerks!!

Here’s a bumper sticker I’d like to see: “We are the proud parents of a child whose self-esteem is sufficient that he doesn’t need us promoting his minor scholastic achievements on the back of our car.” - George Carlin

Bay area 7 year anniversary and Gandhi Jayanthi

Today marks my 7 year anniversary in the Bay area. Yes, I came here on Oct 2nd 2000 and like many others that preceded me, I was hoping to make millions of dollars by joining a startup venture. Well we all now know what happened to those dreams....

Today also is Mahathma Gandhi's birthday and there is one quote of his that I would like to mention here....."Be the change that you wish to see!!"

Carbo loading - fill stomach to fill heart

Lakshmi is running the Nike Women's Marathon this year on October 21st. One of the standard practices these days in our house is to have a carbs packed dinner (aka Carbo Loading) to Friday night as it helps her during the run. When I ran a marathon last year, Lakshmi (or sometimes her mom) used to prepare this dinner for me - which usually was either Pasta (or) Quinoa (pronounced keenwah). Since the roles have reversed this year, I was making Pasta for dinner on Friday night

Just to have a change this week (L had hinted earlier to me about a Pasta overdose), I decided to cook something else instead and searched for recipes on the net and decided to make the following - Minnestrone soup (L loves soups), Vegetable Chinese Fried Rice (L loves Chinese style fried rice) and Potato Fry (L loves potatoes)

Soup was served first as an appetizer, but L loved it so much that she had 2 bowls full. The fried rice and the potato fry also turned out to be really good and we had a hearty-carbo-loaded meal

Both our stomachs and hearts were full :-) It was immensely satisfying to be able to cook something for my dear L

Happy Birthday Ma(amiyar)

Today is L's mom's birthday. Here's wishing her a very happy birthday

P.S: This is a post on L's behalf from L's better-half :-)

Shake it up for dessert

After a quick/light dinner last night, I was still craving for something to feed that little corner in the stomach. Technically, I wanted to have a dessert. I thought of eating some fresh fruits and went to the pantry....lo and behold!!!...I decided to shake it up instead!!

I grabbed some fresh bananas, some organic frozen blueberries, a glass of milk, half a glass of water and pinch of sugar. Threw them all into the blender and in less than 60 seconds a healthy dessert was ready. It wasn't too sweet or sour. Though I can't really vouch for it, I felt that the flavors of the banana/blueberries kind of counter-balanced each other. This treat can help to add a boost to your breakfast or for a quick dessert after lunch/dinner

"Romba nalla irukku appa" from Vidyuth is endorsement enough for me and made my day!!

Pottered!!!

Thats the word I'd like to use for joining the never-ending Potter fan club, after years of wondering what all this hype is about. From a oh-its-just-another-story to oh-my-God-what-was-i-thinking, the transformation has been supersonic, thanks to L

Finished watching the first 4 parts. Will watch the 5th very soon, probably even before anyone gets a chance to read this post!! Such is the obsession at the moment that 6th and 7th parts will be seen FDFS (First Day First Show) whenever they get released

Time to party - in Tamil Nadu (update)

The following article (needs user id/password) seem to be answer to the question that I had posted here

Teething pain, yet can't speak about it!!

For the past 1 week, our little one, Vishruth, has been very cranky. To name a few traits - uncontrollable whining/crying, begging to be lifted, erratic sleep patterns. L and I were wondering what the reason could be and didn't arrive at any conclusion. Little did we expect it was actually due to him teething again.....During one of his crying episodes, I spotted 2 little milk white teeth sprouting adjacent to the couple on his lower jaw....no wonder all those signals that he was giving us - sudden and severe diaper rash, constant shrieking sounds and shoutings pushing the limits of our ears now makes sense.

However from his perspective, being in so much pain and yet to not be able to communicate it....i can certainly imagine how frustrating that can be...

Vinayakar Chathurthi and Kozhakattai (Italian Style)

From the title, you probably wonder what the heck I'm talking about. Well read on...Saturday Sep 15th was Vinayakar Chaturthi and it's customary to make Kozhakattai (rice dumplings - sweet and spicy) to offer as Prasadham to the Lord. However due to unavoidable circumstances, we couldn't do it this year. We did offer some sweet milk, fruits as Prasadham and kept it as a simple affair.

Based on the recipe that I recently saw here , I decided to make some Ravioli (2 filling types - Spinach/Mushroom and Sun-dried tomato) for dinner for my dear wife. The ravioli came out pretty good and my wife enjoyed it. She also quipped that we did make Kozhukattai i.e Ravioli are just flattened Kozhukattai's and I coudn't agree more.

We had some fillings (both kinds) left over for Sunday and L ingeniously whipped up some Ravioli Parmigiana for dinner and quite a meal it was....Thanks L

Love and love only

என்ன காயம் ஆன போதும் என் மேனி தாங்கிக் கொள்ளும் உந்தன் மேனி தாங்காது செந்தேனே
எந்தன் காதல் என்னவென்ரு சொல்லாமல் ஏங்க ஏங்க அழுகை வந்தது
எந்தன் சோகம் உன்னைத் தாக்கும் என்ரென்னும் போது வந்த அழுகை நின்றது

very powerful lines, how very true....aptly written (Padmashree Vaali), divinely tuned (Maestro Ilayaraja) and grippingly emoted (Padmashri Kamalahaasan)...

P.S: Why hasn't Ilayaraaja been awarded a Padmashree? Not that it affects his composing abilities without one, but as an ardent fan of a musical genius who has contributed immensely to the music field, I can't help but wonder....Well that's a subject matter for another post!!

Cyberspace to Outerspace

Way to (go)ogle!!

Happy Teacher's Day

A very Happy Teacher's Day to all those teachers out there.....

Time to party - in Tamil Nadu

I read on the net that Sarath Kumar, a prominent actor from Tamil Nadu has floated his own party with much fanfare to further his political ambitions. Only last year, Vijaykanth, yet another actor from South, started his own party "Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam". With every tom, dick and harry from tamil filmdom starting a political party, only time will tell if they can topple the usual suspects, DMK/ADMK in the Tamil Nadu political arena!!

Cute Couplet

I read this short but sweet couplet eons ago somewhere. I can't recall where and so can't reference the source. Anyways, here it goes

"Life is sweet, if we make it so;
If love is there, let the hearts overflow"

Labor Day Weekend

Whew!!!! Just to live up to the name, the weekend was full of labor.....loads of laundry, folding clothes, vaccum, cutting veggies for the week etc...

Lakshmi had her marathon training run on Saturday morning. So I prepared lunch - chana masala, tomato rasam and white rice. I also made kichdi for Vishruth. Saturday evening was an Oriental and not-to-be-forgotten one. Lakshmi made some out of the world items like Vegetable Manchurian, Cauliflower in Schezuan sauce, rice and noodles. Yummy....

Lakshmi also took the initiative to re-organise the rooms (kids and ours) and the result....for the first time the kids slept in their own rooms and we in ours (Sept 2nd 2007, day to remember). Lakshmi and I watched Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, very peacefully after putting the kids to bed

Lakshmi made some really wonderful Thenkuzhal, Seedai (salt and sweet) and Semiya Payasam for Sri Krishna Jayanthi (Lord Krishna's birthday). Vidyuth thorougly enjoyed the process of preparation and helped his mom as well . It came out so good that even Vishruth, nibbling on small pieces, semeed very content. We also distributed some to our neighbors before proceeding to the temple for a quick prayer visit

Power of appreciation

Have you ever wondered that we get so pre-occupied with our daily chores, work etc that we easily forget to appreciate what we have? We had a power outage last week and though it lasted only a couple of hours, the minutes that we spent in darkness seemed like eternity. Being in USA, we were not even prepared for an outage....no candles, no torchlight, not even the number to call to find out as to when the service would get restored.

While I was busy cribbing about what we didn't have, amidst our kids' screaming, Lakshmi, my dear wife, came up with the bright idea of lighting a scented candle that her friend had gifted her recently and quite a relief it was!!!

Thankfully all of us had finished dinner, but we had other do-it-rightnow chores like dishes, washing baby bottles etc pending and depending on the availability of power again :-) More importantly, we needed the power badly to use the microwave to heat the milk if our younger son, Vishruth (13 months old) were to cry for milk. Vishruth promptly mistook the outage for his nighttime sleep and happily sang his way to lalalalalala land and truly saved the day!!

On the positive side, we had a nice quiet chat with Vidyuth (4 years old), who when awake doesn't sit in one place for more than 1 sec unless he is using the potty. He was firing away questions about all possible topics starting from the outage itself to sunlight to moonlight...well you get the idea!!

The outage last only a couple of hours....but it certainly made us realize that we ought to appreciate what we have.....the things that we take for granted.....Electricity, Quiet family talk etc

First Blog!!

This is my first attempt at blogging!!!......well...sort of....tried once a couple of years ago but didn't get very far. Hopefully this time will blog more regularly