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 :)

Few people...

சில நேரங்களில் சில மனிதர்கள் தான் நம்மை ஒரு நிமிடம் திரும்பி பார்க்க வைக்கிறார்கள். Be it a person who has lost around 20 kg after delivery in a span of 6 months or Be it a person who maintains a physical fitness every time I see them or Be it a person whose thoughts have grown exponentially though he was struggling hard to study in school days or Be it a person juggling between work and home and still not cribbing any time or Be it a person who is so level headed even after lot of accomplishments or Be it a person who even at the age of 70 can lead an independent life or Be it a person who having worked in a government bank for around 20-30 years and then completely taking a new turn and joining in IT company and enjoying the new work culture and traveling around the world. The last person who I said is very special to me - He is my dad. As my cousin said , the only person in the family who has REALLY changed in the past few years is my dad. I am very proud that he could take such a bold decision at this age while I am sometimes scared to even say what I think !

New home,LO crawling....

June was a happening month. We finally moved in to our new home after lots of delay. We did loads and loads of packing/unpacking and setting up. I have set up almost 60% of our home.Here are the few pictures :)

We are getting compliments for our picture wall :) I am so happy I could do it the way I wanted it. It’s a picture pile of 3 generations of our families :)We have few furniture/appliances to buy now. We will get them one by one ;-)

The best thing about our new home is that it has good cross air ventilation. It is so good that you don’t feel the heat at all in evenings and nights :-)

The only thing I always complain to Param (I know I complain a lot) is about the occupancy of flats in our complex being very less…Less than 10%...So I kinda of feel lonely, the Mr. is optimistic things will improve by end of this year J … I never cared about the occupancy rate or any such detail when I was in US,but now I am asking for better occupancy ;)…

And Eshvar is growing up. He can now sit without any support and he crawls all over the place. I am very happy to see his changes day by day…and I cannot believe in another

4 months he is goint to have his frist birthday cake….He poses well for photographs (Guess he got that gene from me ;-)) I am yet to see a teeth, let the tooth fairy visit late…

Last week was one of the memorable weekends here. We had my cousin and his wife at our home for virunthu :). The best part was after a game of poker, we all went to our apartment park and played swing and see-saw at late night (1 am) and had whole-hearted fun …These kind of days will remain in memory forever :)

Before I finish off, let me add that the microwave oven + grill is fantastic and I am getting grasp of grilling and baking in oven….Now I can start baking J which makes me the most happiest person… I even baked an eggless cake for my amma and some butter cookies :)…LG makes very good oven :)

Birthday time :-)

Every Year on this day, I get on full swing to make cake for You-know-Who :-) But this time,As we have not still moved to our new home, I did not get a chance to bake any goodies personally for him.

We got a chance to be at my tirunelveli this weekend. So We arranged for a cake and my SIL did the decoration part...We had a small party and had good fun. I leave you with few photos

Happy birthday again my dear husband...Wishing you loads and loads of health and happiness :-)

LO,wedding,Home and more.....

I cannot imagine its already 5 months since the little one has come and time is running so fast and the LO learns a thing a day and makes our life more interesting….

He smiles so cute…I don’t think stranger anxiety has hit him till now..Gives his பொக்கைவாய் smile to anybody and everybody…Sometimes he laughs so loudly for funny faces and pranks we do that we fear his stomach hurts…

You put him at one place..After 10 minutes He is exactly in opposite direction….

He loves to watch anything that moves-from a newspaper lying around whose pages flapping to curtains moving due to breeze ...

He grasps/catches anything that is nearby or we show to him.About a month back, he did not show interest to hold, but within 15 days, he now wants to hold anything

He still loves all bright colours :-)

5 things to go for 5^th month!!

Last month we attended wedding of my cousin..My LO was center of attraction and he and we thoroughly enjoyed with my Mother in law and Mother taking turns to take care of him while I had fun with my cousins…..

When it comes to move in to new house, Its already 3 months and we still haven’t moved to new house…One thing delays the other and We both are getting annoyed by the delay..But I know, sometimes the delay is for good….उप्पेर वाला is delaying for something else….I just will wait

In all these hurry I managed to paint my storage box..The storage box belonged to my great grandmother..She lived with us during my school years…And I was so happy I could get hold of that and paint to my desire ….

Fantastic Four

This is going to be a pleasant surprise for Param.

Time for little rewinds
Time for little remembrances
Time to see how we have grown fond of each other
Time to enjoy sweet little things in life though we both have been very busy with lot of things past few months
Time to pray to God to bless this relationship even more...
And all these in 4 years .....

4 cheers to our meet-anniversary !!!

Last month was.....

I logged into the blogger after a month. Where did the last month go? I don't know...It is hard to believe that a month has flown past. Here we are slowly settling down and I am doing great...Touch wood ;-)

We had 2 quick ceremonies within 10 days of arrival here. I am glad both the naming & housewarming ceremonies went well as planned. Eshvar's naming ceremony was more like an introduction of him to my friends & relatives here... And nobody gets his spelling right (Eshvar) - even my dad ;-)

Our house warming was a simple function as our apartment was not fully ready for occupation and my dad had to travel on a business trip just before the function. Wood work is still on and soon we will be painting interiors (in colors I like). ..A Aah I love Asian paints and the designs they showed me. I am hoping we can move in by end of April . I am tired of living out of suitcase.





And my little hero has started to roll over - on back to tummy in 2 second ;-) all when he is yet to hold his head steady. He gives the most beautiful smile to everybody :-) He was also enjoying all the attention he was getting at my in laws place at tirunelveli.






All in all an eventful & brisk month.....

I will miss her

I know this would come as a surprise to her, but I just wanted to tell the world about the beautiful friendship we started sharing few years back.

We worked together in my first job. During those days,our conversation would be Hi's and bye'. Then when she came to US for her MS,it was then our friendship started.It graduated from half an hour phone calls to non stop chit chatting.Our conversation would be from day to day activities to little sandais at home to things happening in India to our work to our dreams to our wishes to our complaints.It just doesn't fit any frames. When I was working earlier, we used to IM almost every day.When she visited me to wish me the best of everything during pregnancy, it was like a sister visiting my home and having the girl talk. The best thing I like until today is that we do not pass judgments on each other.I am more frank with her than with anybody else.

If I just think of her, the first thing that comes to my mind is the kalatta vetti talk we had at small cafe in SFO. Now as I start preparing for the travel,I feel the talks with her is what I will miss the most.I know with all advancements, though we are just a phone call apart....the fact is that I will miss her !! :(

I know now I have written more like a testimonial to our friendship rather about her. But Anyway this is the best place where I could express it ...

Super fast rewind

I just did a super fast rewind from 2005 to 2008 and now I am in an open vacant house with almost everything sold. I started my marriage life here and will never forget the last few happening years.

Looking forward to the new year !

So Its been a month I logged in blogger to type...The little baby keeps me busy and when I am free I am too lazy to pen my days....

A year back, when we attended a friend's kiddo birthday party, we were in couple-phase and were surrounded by friends with kids...They were sharing tons and tons of stories about their babies and toddlers and stories/experiences about Diapers,Spit up,Colic,baby blues, dresses,toys,Strollers,Sleep,Swaddle- I was jus smiling there and wondering how I am going to handle it ....All said and done, being a new parent, now all I mind now is to make sure the little king burps at the end of his feeding, if the little one poops and pees, if the little one is sleeping properly and if I am doing it right...

And with all these things, 2008 is coming to an end and If I read posts from earlier this year, I see that it is quite an eventful year with pregnancy to parents visiting to 10 day road trip to nice vacation with friends to resigning job to 1-month old Junior :-), Quite an eventful year isn't it?

So There I am ready to welcome 2009 and looking forJan 17 for our trip back home. Yes, We are moving back to chennai and everybody in family are eagerly waiting :-) A lot of things to do and lot of occassions to look forward in the next year with family around.... So the next few days are going to be busy with us packing baggages to check in and I want to stuff all my belongings in check-in luggages and getting ready to travel with small one...The house is almost clear with most of the items sold and most of items packed for shipping...The shippers will be here next week this time and then we have 2 more week before we fly...A lot of occasions have been planned already and I hope and pray everything works out and we settle soon :-)

So I am ready to welcome 2009 with a spring in my step and wish everyone a happy & prosperouse new year ! :-)

.....The little one joins us

After few days of dilly dallying, the little one joins my small world on November 17th, 2008.



My whole world is rocked.One day Life is a bliss. One day Its a total disaster. One day Life is totally blur. One day Its like Kodak moments. And we learn everyday :-)

Whats happening?

A lot of things happening in my world …

I could have written a blog post about the super quick valaigappu arranged at my home after my parents arrived….Or will a pic be suffice ;-)?

Or I could have written about the humongous packing going on at my home and making an accurate inventory of small and large things to be shipped. Or will a pic suffice?

Or I could have written about last minute shopping and preparation for our baby's arrival at my home.

Or I could have written about Param’s latest addiction with his DSLR or should a pic be suffice?

Or I could have written about how my due date has passed and I am still waiting anxiously ;-)

But actually I could not put my thoughts in words with my world spinning so fast. So this post with little nothings - cluster of happenings……

Negotiator

To start preparing for moving back, we started selling off few things from home. And one of them was a shoe rack. We advertised it for $10. One of the guys came to pick it up. And he started bargaining with me. I am not good at all with bargains and bargaining. I just told him I do not want to negotiate. Then he gave me money. I just counted and it was $9 and he immediately said that he forgot to bring $10. As I had already got the money, I said its fine. These guys are tricky to deal with ;-) Maybe by the end of all the sales and move, I will become a pro.

Today was book sale day in my neighbourhood library. I added few books to my collection to bake more :-)