Texture is everything..

That is not some worm stuff.. it is really delicious "Omapudi" that just "melts in your mouth".. magnified to see detail that you don't normally care about.. but there is something to that texture that makes Omapudi what is really is..

anyways, digressing as usual..

Wishing everyone a Happy and prosperous Deepavali, Diwali, Deeparaya.

May knowledge light up your life!

While the rest of you go back to your firecrackers, new clothes, sweets and savories, I have a few close encounters of the third kind to do with the boondhis, ribbon pakodas and mysorepak..

Happy Deepavali everyone...

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California Tamil Academy

Jr. is learning Tamil (Tamizh) at the CTA for the last two months. She has a lot of fun. Teaching her at home (and the little one on the side) is a ton of fun for me.

This Sunday they had a Deepavali celebration in the school quadrangle after class was over and they had all the parents and kids gather for some mehendi, villu paatu, song and dance.

The Mrs. joined in for an impromptu kummi adi performance with her kummi buddies at the end of the events.

Here are some photos..

We now have the Deepavali hangover.....

In other news, the hand has passed the Doc's criteria for making it to Physiotherapy! The bone bends around the screws and the break and has formed callouses. It was amazing to watch the x-rays. The human body is an amazing thing!

Next goal, be able to eat a pizza with my right hand!

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Sparklers

Now you know all about the kid in me coming out and having fun!

Sooooooo wish that we could burst bijili vedis here. Someday, someday, we will be in Madras for Deepavali and we will show our kids the type of fun we had growing up.

After talking to relatives in India, they all said two things that are downright baffling..

1. Only my youngest cousin who is 11 and my nephew who is 3 are into bursting crackers. The rest of them are happy with the good eats and watching TV or going to the movies!

2. A box of 10 sparklers (Kambi mathaapu) costs 2$ here and it costs 3$ in Chennai!!! Velai vaasi(cost of living) has indeed risen there!

At this rate, Cupertino might become New Chennai... much like they named New York, or New Jersey a few hundred years ago..

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A very happy Deepavali to all of you

Wishing everyone a belated Happy Deepavali!!!

Hope everyone had a great time on Friday night and yesterday. Here in Cupertino, the celebration is still going on..

We did get to wear new clothes, have vadai, paayasam, bakshanam from friends, have fun with some mathaapu (sparklers), watch a new release movie(daddy was sent to the theater on a cheer up mission) and have a fun time with family.

We also had a marathon session on the phone calling/receiving calls from all relatives on the land line, the Vonage phone and two cell phones!

Diwali was much needed in this household. It cheered me up a lot, enough to bring the kid in me out to have some fun! Seeing daddy happy, mommy and the kids cheered up as well.

Have a lot of things to catch up on with what is left of the weekend. Here are some photos.

Here's to lighting up all the darkness in our lives!

ps. Watched "Aadhavan". Vadivelu was at his best, but the movie was so-so. One of those movies where you watch the first half and if you walk out of the theater in the second half, you are really not going to miss anything.

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Lights, Camera, Action

First the lights..

Now the camera..

May the godess Lakshmi (more specifically Sowbaghyalakshmi!) bless this house with a new lens in the coming year!

Okay, okay.. that was not the cameras fault. It was an accident! After taking pictures of the outside lights, on a tripod the extended family requested a group shot. Without realizing that it was on manual mode with 0.8 seconds at F/4.0! and on self timer, placed the tripod and this is what we get. Still does not hurt to ask the godess, right?!

That photo, came in handy! This is the first group photo with all the unrecognizable ladies published on the blog!

Now for the action...

My BIL, who is celebrating his Thalai Deepavali (first deepavali as a "hubby"), came up with this one. He was trying "night shot" mode, thereby giving this second picture, which would normally make the reject pile, find extensive use on this blog to show what was happening without having to do any photoshop to black out faces. This ensures that the folks seeking anonymity are happy and makes me happy as well (I get to post some photos!)

Happiness, is watching great looking happy women celebrate in style...

This was another candid classic from the BIL who is now trigger happy with his new Nikon D40 (Edited to chop off what remained of the recognizable faces. Ladies, my apologies! Next year will make sure all of you turn the other way so we dont have to do this).

That picture pretty much gives a brief overview of this years deepavali saree selections namely:

asattu karuppu with arakku border
mayil kazhuththu color with segappu border
deep magenta with gold border
etc. etc.. (colors which are undescribable, untranslateable and untransliterable in english)

The kids really enjoyed it!

We had a blast this year!

This Deepavali was much needed in this household which has otherwise become very gloomy in its outlook.. Time to think positive at home, at blogger, at everything!

Here's to the "lighter" side of life!

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