Cycling

Yesterday I and Param went to Chennai cyclathon. We were at the venue around 6:00am. Nowadays Chennai is cold at mornings. It was so calm and serene to ride in a bike across not-so-dark streets with no traffic. At the venue, after standing in 3 different queues and test of patience, we finally managed to collect our bibs & rent cycle for the race. The bicycle I got was little taller for me and it took some time for me to get used to that. The event started 1.5 hrs late and they reduced the distance from 25 Kms to 10 Kms. Finally they flagged off the ride and off we went. The traffic was blocked for us and so only cycles were on the road. The route was from Anna University to Madyakailash over the fly over and then a turn back at Tidel Park towards Anna university. I was not sure how fit I was. But once we started it was fun all the way. I was slower than my cousin who also participated but I made it a point to finish it. I was happy I managed to ride over a flyover. While I was riding down the flyover I lost my balance a little but somehow managed not to fall down (If I had fallen down I am sure there would have been lot of bruises). On our way back to Anna Univ, police didn’t manage traffic well and so we had to drive along with cars & buses. All in all, I managed to participate in an outdoor activity after months and it has definitely kindled my desire to buy a cycle …It reaffirmed my love for cycling :-)
It’s a new experience for us at Chennai. I and Param were happy to see big crowd who joined us in the ride. They didn’t mind to get up early on a Sunday and participate in this charity cyclathon. I also felt that organizers learnt a valuable lesson from their first cyclathon event (I guess it is their first time). I am sure they will do it better next year!!

Time for planning!!

So 2009 is almost over and 2010 will be here in next few days
Time to reminisce and plan :-)
Few things I want to do in 2010 :
· First, I am going to set a daily reminder to track this ;-)
· I want to spend carefully. I want to budget my expenses so that I can save more to payout loans quickly.
· My reading curve has exponentially decreased, so want to read atleast 6 books this year .
· Continue researching on flexi job options. Every day reminds me that I should start doing something atleast before LO starts schooling.
· Start counting calories and hit gym daily no matter what....My target to lose - 10 Kg;-)
· Be more stronger and be more selfish!! I am more of a get-along-well-with-everyone person. But lately, I feel this makes me look weak. I want to slowly get out of this be-nice-to-all habit and express every moment what I really feel.
· Start growing more plants in balcony.
So what are yours?

Santa came to my house

Today was one of the monotonous days where I was waiting for to finish my dinner and head to bed.That is when I heard a knock on my door and I received a gift package from Germany-I could not believe what I did receive.It was a gift package from my former lead at BMW.Miracles do happen !!

I was speechless and mere happy.When I started opening the gift,my happiness was beyond boundaries-Homemade sweets,small reindeer toy for LO,handcrafted wooden hanging,Lindt chocolates, and now comes the best part-HANDWRITTEN LETTER to me and our family!!
Truly I have no words to describe how I felt this moment.I feel blessed for such good people in my world.

This is one of the sweetest gesture anybody has ever done to me.I am moved.

Happy Holidays to Everybody!!

17/11/08-17/11/09

Dear Appu,

{A year is over and Long days and sleepless nights are behind me…My little boy has grown into a cute toddler}

Not a day goes by without thinking about you. I was not even 1% ready for you, unlike other women who imagine how their baby would be..All I was thinking about a year back was travelling back to India..Silly me.. You were so small when I carried you first. I was even scared to carry you…I was not even mentally prepared or confident about taking care of you well. You were so good and calm that you helped me to learn the tricks and take care of you were as cheerful as a baby gets… I could not help but thank and reminisce how you were like a perfect doll in when we took a 27 hour flight back to India even when you were only 2 months old….I am sure you are not going to be as nice today ;-)…From the day 1 in India, It was like a swirl, I did not know what I did but you were growing and teaching me…You took all the travel nicely - be it train or car or auto..The day you first rolled over..The day you first tried to crawl..The day you had your first taste of solids..The day we helped you to sit..The day we bought walker for you…The day you started saying thatha..The day you started to smile and wave bye bye..All are locked in my pleasant memories forever…And suddenly I realize a whole 1 year is complete with you becoming a little toddler who strives to walk steadily..I could not control my surprise and happiness when you start walking …taking one small step at a time…But you becoming a person of your own makes me fear that our bond is slowly widening and you walking away further..

I pray and wish you a very happy life. I wish you loads and loads of freedom for you to grow beyond boundaries..Everybody says I am lucky and blessed to get such a cheerful boy…I know I am and I always love you

Yours

Amma

Random thoughts

After a long dilemma and incessant thinking, I finally made up my mind to join my former company again after my baby. I still do not know if I have taken the right decision but being out of job for a year surely placated me to take this up :-/

And from Day-1 at new job, my day is very hectic. I plan my day carefully so that every 5 minutes is used effectively.
Above all, my little boy who is cho cheweet is getting accustomed to traveling, staying with my mom without throwing any tantrums...I really feel blessed for this. You should see him trying to take his little steps with his cute strides. It is a treat to watch. We have taken a few videos of his tries (to walk) ...

Last year, by this time in November I was eagerly awaiting my little one's arrival. This year I have grown as a mother...I still could not believe how he grew in me but now not a single moment passes by without thinking of him ...Next week we have his birthday. Though it will be a low key event,we will be celebrating his Tamil calendar birthday in grandeur...

Amidst all these, few things I want to note and remind myself...
Though juggling between career and personal life is harder, it is not as hard as I thought so. A little bit of planning is helping me in a big way. But One thing I have noticed here is not many folks give positive advices and help me take it in good stride. In my previous job at USA,I have seen beautiful ladies who transform between career women and mother so nicely without any family help, but yet see life with so positive energy. But here we have family to support us but still few to help you take things with positive attitude. Nobody gives positive advice; Focus is on negativism....I think we are brought up with tough examples and little positivity that people never help you focus on positivity....

I am also planning to blog more from now on. I will also include a few interesting tidbits about Chennai or maybe few interesting places/things I see here...

To start with, I have seen a place called "Let's do something" at Velachery. It’s a new setup- a new activity centre which helps people to learn new hobbies and cultural activities. I am hoping my dance classes there will start from next week onwards. Will let you know how the classes go on, how the place is in next few weeks...

Do you know about Veggiebazaar? It is new to me, here we can order vegetables - either cut or uncut and they deliver to your office. Price is little expensive than the usual but I don't mind using it once a week to make my chores easy..

So Next post will be about the little monster's birthday
See ya

It's been a YEAR

These days, every time I think of blogging,I postpone it so much that I complete forget what I wanted to write...

Kutti Esh is trying to stand and pull things down. He has started waving bye bye and crawling across all over the place saying thatha,athai,akka...He sure does make my mornings fly by....and showing that he is Appu of our home.

But what have I been doing...

I still cannot believe it has been an year since I quit my last job. Now I have again started to look for a job. Though I remember my optimistic post last September when I quit my job things are not as easier as I thought to get back one with such economic conditions. Adding to the woes are the simple difficulties in even getting ready for the interview and reading tech topics with all my other priorities. I have started to dislike the option of me justifying again and again that I deserve the job at interviews and proving that I am a good fit for a job. But anyway that's how life is and I will get through this phase with grit.....:)

I dont want to leave on that front,Leaving you a happy pic of the cute one :)