To all you salad eaters out there...

Have you tried pub style fish and chips dipped in tartar sauce?

Ah, the 4th Anniversary

I thought I better post this before the 5th year rolls by!

Though sometimes it feels like ‘already four years!’, mostly it feels like, ‘only four years?’. It’s been one hell of a ride. Let’s see if I can sum it in a single sentence. Here goes – marriage, move to the US, move to the job in the US, a lot of ‘our firsts’ – our little rented apartment , our car, mostly our adventure (we did not know ANYBODY when we landed here, we just walked out of the hotel to see if we could find an apartment!) , then Eswar getting through his Step 3 exam, his research job, buying our own place, our very own baby (that’s what I say to Eswar sometimes as I watch the little fella sleeping, ‘Can you imagine, he is our very own baby!?’:P), I learnt to drive and got a car, Eswar got into his residency and I got admittance into PhD, commuting between NY and Philly. Yes, it’s been one of those rides. Sometimes I reflect if I would have wanted it any other way? Now looking back, I don’t think so. It has been a real rollercoaster with real highs and real lows and though sometimes it was a scary ride, I feel exhilarated, just like after the roller coaster ride in Universal studios in Florida where we went for the Christmas holidays in 2007.Okay, okay, will stop:)
Funny, I remember what we did for our second (I was pregnant and my in-laws were there, we went to the temple and cut a cake) and third (sent the little fella to daycare and the two of us took off and went for lunch and basically had a ‘we’ day) anniversaries, but for the love of me I can’t seem to recollect what we did for our first!
The fourth, however has been our best so far. It’s going to be a tough act to follow.
I am going to leave out all the complicated parts about how Eswar had to go to work on Sunday and hence we decided to go down to NY after our hectic vacation and so on:)
Let me start with all the things mummy made. She made Badusha (at home. I know!) and masala dosa for breakfast. We then went to the Sai Baba temple that’s close to our place. In the temple they also had Sathya Sai Baba’s big photo and they were offerings of flowers there. At that moment I wished I too had got a bouquet. To say thank you. I grew up figuratively with him. Before starting school, my parents took me to Putaparthi and he wrote Om on a slate for me. There were monthly bajans in thata patti’s house every first Saturday. The entire family would be gathered there. Warm memories of family, good food and the good times.
Anyways, coming back to our anniversary, had prasadam in the temple for lunch and went for a ride to Jones beach. By then Krish had slept. We too got back home and relaxed for a while. Mummy had another surprise waiting for us. She had baked a cake for us! I seriously don’t know when she did this! After the cake cutting and another photo session, Eswar and I took a train to NYC. The initial plan was a movie but since we were in Long Island, we thought we will catch a Broadway show . One of the items in my bucket list – to have watched ALL the Broadway shows:) Eswar had picked Chicago, don’t ask me why. Throughout the show I kept teasing him that he picked it up because that was the show with the scantily dressed females. Okay, okay, before the show Eswar took me to Tiffany’s but they did not have THE ring in my size and we had to come back another day to collect it . It seemed too complicated and Eswar promised that he would get it for me in KOP. Well, that did not happen. Ah wait! maybe the 5th year will not be that tough an act to follow after all! :)

Last Night…

I called Eswar and said “Will you wake me up tomorrow morning? Phone isn’t working and no alarm”
Believe me, that is all I said.
Eswar: “Of course. And don’t you worry, I will not forget. Hahaha (this I think was kind of forced), if I forget, your day will be ruined tomorrow and the day after that and I can almost see our weekend slipping away too(now almost panicky). No, no, don’t worry, I will set up the alarm on my phone and wake you up”.
Now if only Krish was this afraid of me.

And then I discovered the Hot Sauce…

Recipe: Heat oil in pan, switch it off and let it cool. Add red chili flakes, salt and soy sauce ( a tablespoon).

I use this sauce with everything. I mean everything - pasta, rice, mashed potato, noodles, every vegetable, every meat dish. This is what keeps me sane and stops me from dying of boredom with my food. You see, only food that can be eaten by a two year old is cooked in my house. So, absolutely no spice or chili. Otherwise, the entire mealtime is spent only drinking water and water.
And I absolutely love this sauce. There are days when I crave for it so much that I have to take myself physically someplace far to stop from eating it. No, seriously.

A love story...

Meet the heroine – Tanu and the hero – Krish.
“Krish, do you love mummy or daddy?” Krish: “I love Tanu”.
When Krish got back to school after our vacation in D.C., Tanu:”My Krish is back”. Err..okay:P

SFO and the NPs – A foodie’s vacation

This time we totally freaked out on the food. It helps that we are now totally irreligious. No reservations:)

Saturday:Flight & Pier 39
Lunch: Mexican restaurant near the airport
Dinner: Pier 39
We spent the better part of the afternoon after landing in San Jose shopping! Picked up car seat, diapers, food , milk, bread, fruits and such like.

Sunday:Napa valley
Lumch: Napa valley
Dinner:Left overs from the previous day's dinner and lunch
Fanciest thing we did this trip was the wine tasting. Now I know a little more about wine and about cheese and also why wine and cheese go so well together.

Monday:Yosemite
Lunch: Miner’s Inn
Dinner:Miner’s Inn
Ah, the restaurant. Ribs and then some molten chockelety thing!

Tuesday:Yosemite
Lunch:Take out and had lunch by the river
Dinner:Miner’s Inn
Made sure we drove all the way back to the restaurant for dinner. Want to go back there just for the food. Sigh.

Wednesday : Grand Canyon and Sequoias NP
Lunch:Picked up authentic Mexican food from a food cart near a gas station and had lunch by grizzly falls. Seriously, it was called that.
Dinner:Take out
I was city sick at the end of it. I wanted to be around people.

Thursday : SFO
Lunch: Food cart in Pier 33
Dinner:A fancy Italian hotel in Fisherman’s wharf
What a city and what beautiful, lovely weather, my Bangalore kind of weather! And this is the day we fell in love with crabs.

Friday:SFO and Miur woods
Lunch: Fishwitch, which means Fish +Sandwitch. That is the name of the restaurant and the fish was really good and not to forget the clam chowder in a bread bowl.
Dinner:Crab Shack
Rode the cable cars hanging out. Super funJ
And for dinner, crabs of course.

Saturday:Flight back
Lunch: San Jose Airport
Dinner:Chicago airport
Even the lunch at the San Jose airport was soo good!

See, that’s why I am not a writer.
Okay, some details.
1)Krish was so fussy the first few days that we were totally worried but after a couple of days, it got really better. And after the vacation, he is really a new boy. I guess the vacation was good after mummy went, he had time to get adjusted without her and he had us around him all the time and also a good change of scenery.
2)California is beautiful. The entire place seems to be on hills, not the big, jutting kind of hills but the soft, rolling ones. As I read what I have written, it doesn’t look like I am describing hills
3)Our flight was at such odd times, 6 in the morning and we reached Philly at 2 in the night! And unlike other times, which shall not be mentioned, we got them both
4)Did not do much of shopping this time though I really wanted to and was open to it.
5)Krish wore the same pair of jeans every day, one, because he would wear only that and two, the weather, I. just. Was. Not. Prepared. For. a chilly .weather. Remember, California and all that sun?!
6)And I absolutely love my Iphone. I am soon going to have its baby.

Dear jackass,

You have just made my life bloody freaking complicated ! Why are you so hyper and try hard to impress others! Thanks to you the job that requires only 10 minutes (and I have already completed it!), I have to spend another hour to do some bloody bureaucratic work!

Pittsburg, Vrindavan and Shenandoah NP

Okay, I changed the blog name and the template. If only I can learn to post pictures now:P

Vacations should be relaxing but for us, nah, it generally never is. We try to pack in sooo much that we generally need to come back and recover. This time was no different mostly but captured ONE whole day of relaxation.

We left Saturday early morning to Pittsburg and from there to Vrindavan. Next day in the morning left to Shenandoah NP , stayed there for 2 whole days and on Tuesday went to Luray Caverns and then started back home.

Day 1 was Pittsburg and Vrindavan. Had boxed lunch from the temple and had dinner in the Vrindavan cafeteria. The temple premise was beautiful but I thought it all looked a trifle artificial, especially the life size statues of the Gods and the animals and all. However, the drive was simply amazing and awesome and beautiful and I have decided that I am going to retire in a hill station. Okay, someday I will make a separate post of this. There were actually shared bathrooms! I think the last time we had this was when we went to Shirdi for patti thatha’s 50th wedding anniversary:P. But thank God, they were clean.

Day 2, we left to Virginia to Shenandoah NP. We went through all these inside roads and again the drive was amazingly beautiful with green rolling hills and houses tucked in between valleys. Have you ever seen a place and thought that people can never be sad in a place like this? Yes, it was that place for me. And each house felt like the perfect setting for a story that I had read. Beautiful, beautiful drive.
It rained like scary crazy when we were on the road in Virginia. That was the worse rain that I had seen when on the road. We simply couldn’t see anything and everybody had switched on the blinkers and were following the twin lights!
We had rented cabins in the hills in the Shenandoah NP and they were perfect! They looked like they will fall apart anytime but inside, it was the perfect little cottage of my dreams:P. They had two rooms and a bathroom with a picnic table and a pit fire!

Day 3 was the best day of our vacation, at least for me. We just relaxed and un-winded. Eswar and I went for a small trek. We hiked a 1.4 mile steep trial. We followed a stream and it turned into a fall. Ah, memories! You never know when you are making one.
All of us then went for lunch to a local resort hotel with amazing views of the valley. We came back to the cabin, napped and then went for a drive (the drive is a famous one, called the skyline drive), walked some more on some meadows, gazed at the sky hoping for a dazzling sunset but the sun got shy and hid behind the clouds. See, made me the poet too:) For dinner, now this is the best part, cooked over the fire pit. We cooked bengan bartha and chappatis. What is it with us!? I mean, this is how we lived zillion centuries back and now we think that is the best way to live!

Day 4 saw us at the Luray caverns and then home.

Krish was amazingly good. Whenever he got annoyed or bored, we gave him the phone and he would see videos and generally meddle with it and entertain himself. I absolutely love the Iphone. We better do after using it as a GPS, weatherman, camera, camcorder, IPod and a toy!
Some pointers for next time
1)Should avoid too much of driving between destinations.
2)I estimated just one hour to get ready and be off in the mornings. It didn’t ever, ever happen and looking back, I mean with a baby and all, was I overly optimistic or what?
3)Don’t carry too much food. Mummy had baked blueberry muffins and had made cashew pakodas. We had bought all variety of fruits and chips and other assorted snacks. Really, did we think we could eat so much?
4)Remember to carry a laundry bag.

Did i mention that I love my phone?

WTFness, aspirations and randomness, in that order.

I am a WTF kind of a person as in if you knew what I am thinking, you would say WTF. An example, just got to know that they may be evaluating our team here, which is just some fancy shmancy way of saying that they are going to sack us. I immediately start planning on the things to take to NY from the home here when I move and I am dreaming about how to decorate the place there when I should actually be worrying about a ton of things starting with being without a job. So there you see.

I am an extreme person. I have these bouts of extreme intelligence when I can come up with these amazing Nobel prize worthy ideas and there are times when I behave and act like a retarded person. And unfortunately for me, my retarded persona is the dominating one. As mentioned earlier, I have to have at least one episode of stupidity every day. Let's see for today, I hit a car and since it is an intersection and there is no place to stop, I just drive off! And I even forget that I hit a car! I know, WTF! Okay, okay, it was just a small nick.

Aspirations for this month-
1)Learn photography – I have been reading a couple of photography articles and realized that without understanding the concept of light and exposure, which is how I take snaps, it is just random photography. Most activities can be divided into a Science or an Art and I have realized that most things in this world are a science. If you can do a good job by following certain rules, then it is a science and to do a good job in most things you have to learn the science behind it. So, moi have to learn the science of photography.
2) Read up on investments as in read up a lot to get ready to invest by early next month. Coward that I am , I wanted to start with something very, very simple like mutual funds and then run into terms like Closed-end funds, Open-end funds, Load vs. no-load. Blaeeddy!!

Now for some randomness, I think that’s what I should call this blog. Anyhoo, I read in a blog “Quality of your decisions should not be judged by their outcomes”. I kind of like this guy whose blog I read, like like him enough that if he knew me in real life would want him to find me a nice person, so if he gets to know that all my decisions are expecting some kind of an outcome, he won’t like me much, no?

Supermoms and all..

Supermoms - So, how do you define a supermom?
I don’t actually think anybody can be a supermom unless somehow they have more than 24 hours in a day. I mean, there is only so much you can do in a day and you would be compromising on some thing. However having said that (I love this phrase, it sounds so quaint and Victorian) , I am going to compete for the supermom of the year. You see, not only am I going to have to manage Krish alone once my mom leaves, but have also gone and gotten myself enrolled into a PhD program (yay to me). So let’s see, Krish, my job, PhD, home which includes cooking and cleaning and not to mention the weekend commuting. Yes, I definitely qualify. So, what am I going to compromise on? Just for the fun of it let me order my priorities and I will come back latter and see if I am following through.

1) Krish – Okay, no surprise there.

2) Cooking – Now, that is a surprise. Again, it comes down to my little fella. I want him to eat healthy, wholesome food and all that:)

3) My job AND my PhD - Actually, my job has never been a stress factor for me. Ever. I know, lucky me. I think I can juggle between the two of them.

4) Cleaning – No surprise here, this comes last, even though I love cleaning and seeing a clean home. Nothing gives me more satisfaction that this Yes, I love even bathroom cleaning. But this may take a back seat. Something has to.

But unfortunately for me and everybody around me, we all know that it is not going to play out like this. Let us again, not for the fun of it but for me and everybody around me to be sane, play out different scenarios and how I am supposed to react to it.

Scenario 1: I would not have completed my assignment. Me being me, I would have pushed it until the very last minute. So the day before I have to submit my assignment, I will expect Krish to behave in the evening and let me finish it or I will expect him to be a model baby and have his dinner and go to sleep which knowing the way of things, will not happen on that particular day even if he has been model baby until then.
I am supposed to not procrastinate but finish my assignments on time preferably, no compulsorily, the very next day after my class.

Scenario 2: I would have planned to cook something special but Krish will turn out to be cranky that day.
I am supposed to be flexible enough to change my plans and have Maggi. The keyword - ‘flexibility’.

Scenario 3: My house is dirty, like very dirty and the bathrooms are stinking and I have an unfinished assignment to be submitted the next day and I want to cook something delicious because I am craving to eat sambhar and Krish is being cranky and something urgent has come up at work.
Of course, I am supposed to call Eswar and cuss and regret the day I married him.

So we see there is a pattern, not being able to do what I want because I have to deal with another person whose will I cannot bend. This is why I love writing, it helps me organize my thoughts and my nobel prize winning ideas. Anyhoo, the point of this post is I need to be flexible, combine it with other noble attributes like discipline and rigor and time management and I may end up getting the award. Remember what Darwin said - “It is not the strongest nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change.”

mummy

Last night, as I was putting Krish to sleep, he was going through his routine – he would ask for amma and I would ask him what she is doing and he would say ollalayi. As he drifted off to sleep, I was telling Eswar how he is going to miss my mom and he was like, all of us are going to miss her. True. Sitting in the den working on a Monday morning, I smell the ollakayengi-kathrika fry and I hear the TV and the little fella and mummy talking and laughing. All this for another month. Sigh. Remind me of this moment of contentment, to come and look at it, hug it and wrap it around me, when I miss my mummy.

Some Gyan

I did some recording of some learning program and I got back some great feedback. One even said that I will be a star. Did it make me happy? Of course it did. For the time it took me to analyze and realize that what I did was nothing great. The job did not require me to be intelligent or make intelligent decisions. It did not utilize any of my inherent talents, whatever those may be , it was just a case of being at the ‘right place at the right time’ by being ‘the employee available to be bakra’.

Lesson: Things that push my limits are what make me happy

Random ramblings

Random ramblings, isn’t that all I do?

1)I love facebook. What is not to love, no? I mean, at any given time, there are hundreds of people entertaining you with their latest photos or with some inane status update. But I love facebook a little more today because I got a request from an estranged cousin. And surprise, he says he is an atheist. I am most impressed.

2)I think I will have 3 kids. One of my colleagues is having his fourth baby! And I am so intoxicated with the picture of having so many kids around me that I want to have at least three and hopefully one daughter, named Sanghamitra. See, I got a spell check for the name and I have added it to my dictionary. Good omen. Of my own making.

3)Now some Krish news. I have to, come on, my entire life revolves around him. He loves Rachel Ray, now that, we all know. But now, it’s almost turning to an obsession Last week, after her program, this boy cries and cries, wanting her back. So, from the next day, my smart mom would make him say bye to her when she’s finishing her show. But yesterday, this boy refused to say bye to her as she was finishing up and wailed and cried and threw a general tantrum for half an hour after she went! He waves me off ‘bye’ dutifully every day .Hmmm, clear about his priorities, my boy.

4)I do dumbass things on a daily basis like I spill petrol all over the petrol bunk when I am re-fueling and equally or more stupid things. And just now, I did another very embarrassing thing and want the earth to open up and swallow me whole. Let’s just leave out what I did, okay?

How do you define empathy?

Do you put yourself in that person’s place, literally? I do. If it is a Tsunami, I imagine being there in those persons shoes. I imagine what I would think and feel as I see the water gushing. I imagine feeling hopelessly helpless as I see my loved ones being carried away. I imagine gasping for breath and drowning and I.don’t.like.it.one.bit. That is why I absolutely do not like empathising with others. I absolutely hate it!

Life as is now

Friday and so general Friday TP
1) I ate Broccoli with hot sauce and then just couldn’t stop eating the sauce. Was eating it directly from the bottle. And the sauce in just chilly flakes in oil. To stop myself, I kept in the cupboard, far away from where I sit, I still couldn’t stop, so next threw away the spoon. Now, finally, I have stuffed my mouth with chocolates to get rid of the taste!I 'think' I have added a picture of the sauce. Gee, i had to google to find out how to post pictures! Looser!!
2) I read “If you let people see the cracks in your surface, that is where they will find a way in”. Agree?
3) Am driving to NY today. Came to office only at 8.30 but can leave at 3 now because BL is not there.

Sanghamitra calls me...

If I have a daughter and if I name her Sanghamitra, will she truly hate me??

Krishy says...

I am 21 months old and I.am.talking.!Mummy, this is four your information, so that the next time when someone asks you that, you are supposed to say, yes, he does, instead of a vague, 'I think so?'! Yeah, just because my language does not resemble yours does not mean that i do not speak! So, now that we have established that i talk, these are what the words in my language mean. This is to enable you to converse with me. jeez, how low I need to stoop..

Lets start with simple things and move onto complicated things.Also remember one word could mean multiple things.You need to look around to see what are the things there that start with that letter.
1)wawa means water
2)pee means spoon; hey, common people, your language is not the be all and end all.
3)ba means a lot of things. If there is a banana, then it is that, mostly it is that. Do you know, banana is almost my favourite fruit? I like most fruits, though grapes and blackberries top the list after bananas.
3)meaw-meaw means cap or derived from your language word of moodi.
4)papi is for milk and when patti is around it means her.
5)chi means chitthi
6)nanny means aunty
7)pho is for phone and fa is for fan. i thought I'll keep it simple there.
8)I also say funny things for yogurt & bottle.
9)Ray - is for Rachel Ray (if you don't know that, please go watch Food network).Do you know that is also my favourite channel? I mean its just soo cool and Ray looks soo pretty. Mommy says that my face lights up when I see her. What can i say, i am just soo happy to see her. I am not very fond of cartoons. Bah!, whats in them! Amama thinks that she can cheat me. ha, I know when it is not food network and i make her change back. hey, also I simply love ads. Whereever I am, i can recongnise when the ads start and I am there in the wink of an eye. My favourite advertisement is the one on Progressive insurance. Isn't she pretty too? Can't decide who is prettier though, that lady in the ad or Rachel Ray..

Anyway, coming back to my speaking skills, I also condescend to speak a few words in your language like kela(down), bye, hi, Bobby (Bobby Flay; again Food network; Do you know I can even recongnise his voice when i am upstairs?), bua (food) and of course the usual mummy, daddy, amma.I also say Kri, short for Krish. Nowadays, I am also stringing in words together into simple sentences to make people's lives a little easier.

I think I am a nice kid (mummy adds on 'sometime' when ever she says this, mean, i say). I love clinging onto mummy's arm while sleeping. She is threatening to put me on a separate bed. Lets see.I say bye when mummy and daddy leave for work. I love being out and hate coming back home after a outing. When we enter our community, I know we are back and try to throw a tantrum, chumma trying to see if they would take me out again, but no such luck so far, however that shouldn't deter me from trying, no? What else do I do, hmmm, wait, I help mummy while grocery shopping, I push the cart!I also help mummy with the laundary.
Well, thats all for now. Will be back with more updates. Do you know i have to go to school soon? Sigh.