Bad is relative

Dad and Mom left in separate cars. The plan? Leave Mom's car for service. Then pick her up in Dad's (mommy) Van and come home.

The little one accompanied me just for fun. On the freeway we suddenly lose track of Mommy's car.

Little One : Where is Amma's car?

Me : She is probably taking some short cut on another exit.

LO : will she come there on time?

Me : Amma is a rash and fast driver. she will be there.

LO : Amma is not a bad driver. She is not a little bit good. That is all!

Me : !!!!!!

The little girl was so torn.. she wanted to support her mommy... but the truth.. the damn truth!

As my grandma would say "no point hiding full pumpkin in small bowl of rice"

.

Experiments with self

Now we have 25 sickness free days (an all time record for the month of March especially since this Blog is a living record).

Facebook has not been touched.

Blogger has been visited twice in 20 days.

The average sleeping time has increased from 5 hours per weekday to 7 hours per weekday.

There has been at least one fruit included in the daily diet. No coffee for the last 25 days. Maximum one glass of tea per day (1/2 cup in morning and evening.. sometimes switched to Horlicks). Fried stuff has been knocked down to a minimum in the daily diet.

There has been at least one shower a day (yes.. shocking as it may seem there was no time for showers or shave on some hectic days in the past)

Now, there is one other addition.

Bikram Yoga for the last 25 days. We (the MIL and me) have been attending a 90 minute hot yoga class every morning from 5:30 to 7:00 for 25 of the last 26 days!

That means we get up at 4:45 and take off. Neither of us were sure if we will continue after the first ten classes but the changes in the body and mind after ten days in the torture chamber were obvious.

People at work who first saw me after 4 days said things like :

Are you wearing makeup? your face is very clear and fair now!
You are very calm instead of your usual trigger happy self. What is going on?
You seem to be very stoic and are quiet in meetings? Are you quitting?
Looking very happy? What is going on? and it was anyone who had not met me in days or weeks.

Had lunch with an old colleague last week (we met after a year) and he said "you somehow look younger this year than last year in-spite of wearing glasses!"

The change was noticeable on the inside as well. There was a feeling of lightness all around, a freshness that hasn't been felt since sitting in that hot spring in Manali last year and a self check mechanism every time the mind was about to launch into an expletive or two be it work related or with the wife and kids at home.

The question that is being asked by some close folks is "Are all these changes because of the Yoga or because of all the other changes like good food, more sleep etc.?"

The answer is definitely "Bikram Yoga". All the other changes and the discipline to make those changes are a direct result of the Yoga class.

Initially there was skepticism about the Hot Hatha Yoga because of what we read on the internet about Bikram Choudhury and the Hot Yoga. For every 10 positive articles there is some gripe about how this is not proven by western medicine etc. etc. After a friend successfully checked this out in Seattle, we went to check out the local studio and see for ourselves.

This is an amazing treat that one can give to ones body and mind.

Have lost 9 lbs in the last 25 days, have a much smoother softer skin. Have had one knee sprain last week (because of overdoing a stretch.. all my doing not the Yoga's) which has since healed by going back into the hot room.

Jr. and the little one cannot stop smelling me. Apparently daddy smells real nice after a shower post Yoga sweating! Even the kids in Tamil school complimented me on how nice Teacher is smelling!

Planning to do this at least 7 times a week from now on. This is the best thing that happened to me since the little one's birth...

A big thanks for this new found happiness goes to the MIL. She joined with me to help her broken ankle mend (while my broken hand builds strength) and even if I felt down on day 2 and 3 and was about to call it a day, she dragged me to class and made sure that I don't quit.

Long live Bikram Choudhury. He has definitely given me a new look at my body, mind and spirit and a second chance at living a contented life.

ps. Do not be intimidated by the fact that you have a big round belly and everyone in the class looks like a cross between Zeus and Urvashi. Just keep trying to do the routine in class and everything else fades away.. including your belly!

.

All is well..

Everything is going at a snails pace... but things are alright!

The kids are growing taller.. daddy is growing balder.. all seems to be going as planned.

Sleep is daddy's new best friend!

.

Wishing you all a Happy Pongal

Work has been so crazy that by Friday evening we just want to come and crash and recharge our batteries. Yet to figure out how 2010 suddenly started off in this mode.

Friday evening came and it was time to make Pongal. This year there was no prayer, no dressing up.. just daddy making Sweet Pongal in his office clothes!

Yes. It was an odd sight to see daddy in formal clothes in front of the stove. To compensate for all the stress, just threw in an extra cup of ghee into the mix and the results were more than satisfactory!

Wanted to videoblog the making of Pongal but that has to wait for another day. Today we went to the Livermore temple, saw Aandal Kalyanam and were served a wedding feast at the temple. There was standing room only in that temple and the little one thought she had been transported to Mylapore for a few minutes. She was even heard whispering that she wanted to be back in the USA..

One would think that with this kind of stuff at home, the kids would be happy to eat Pongal for a late snack? .. the answer is ...

NO!

They wanted Mac and Cheese from the local Target store for dinner.

Well we just think the family has celebrated Makara sankaraanthi and Macand cheesearaanthi in the same day!

Happy Pongal again to all of you.

.

Gathering cow dung and tending to cows..

When we were growing up, the thing that our parents, close relatives (lived with an extended family all the time) was "If you don't study, you will be fit only for tending to cows and becoming a cowherd!"

"ஒழுங்கா படிக்கலேன்னா நீ மாடு மேய்க்க தான்டா போகணும்!" would come the thundering voices..

On one side Krishna, the most lovable of gods was a cowherd! Yet, there was something that was supposed to turn us off as kids from tending to cows on an open field. It was the thing that people unfit to do anything else could do. Spend all day in a field with a stick on their shoulder watching cows, collecting cow dung and having to make dried biofuel from cow dung by mixing it with straw and making cow pattys (aka வரட்டி தட்டரது) and that was somehow a bad thing.

So instinctively, have been transferring my own growing experience to Jr. and the little one. When either one refuses to do her homework, the first thing to come out of our mouth is "if you do not study, we will buy two cows and let them live in our backyard and you can spend all your time collecting their poop! Do you want to keep "aLLiying" (collecting) cow poop for the rest of your life? or do you want to get a nice job, have a house and be able to pay for your kids iPhone Apps?"

Today I took this one notch higher by saying "if you don't study now, your kids will be collecting cow poop because you cannot afford to send them to a nice school and live in a nice house!" and then BAM.. it stuck me!

The whole idea that our parents were trying to put in our head was that if you don't study, you will end up poor like a cowherd! The fact that all you get to wear is a loincloth and get burnt in the hot sun and don't have enough to eat.. well, looks like our parents were not that good at sending the message!

We are worse!

Now, if we can afford to buy two cows and let them roam in our backyard, then why would the kids need to study? they are well off, no? That hit the message in my head after 30 years!

Well, as long as our kids look confused just like we were on what the big deal was with the cow dung, but look worried that "bad things will happen if they don't study" and if things work out the same for them somehow and they come home with grades, they should be fine!

We were sent this article multiple times on email forwards the last few days. Partly that article was what triggered this post.

It is funny that we are trying to be tough parents but we are not tough enough. Not even close. We push our kids but give in. We (especially me) have to do some more muddled messaging like "if you don't study then I will have to go pick up cow dung in my late old years. Is that what you want?"

Guilt works to a point. Then there are threats. Somehow our threats don't hold water right now because we threaten with cow dung!

"No TV!" .. now that might be a threat that will strike the point home.

Question is, do we have it in us to carry that through?

.