The little one is all set to fly out of the nest

It has been some time since I blogged. That is because I spent more than a week recovering from the severe allergies and nose bleeds after that super bloom hike. Was also under a lot of pressure from family to recover before first week of June, to be at the little one's high school graduation!

We came to Cupertino when she was a 6 month old baby, chasing a school district that was "the place to be" in our local circles. Most of our close Desi and Chinese friends were all moving to Cupertino and so did we! It feels like yesterday. 

17 years later, we have graduated out of this school system. It has been an interesting experience as a parent and I am sure both Jr. and the no so little one may have a very different view of things. I for one was happy to have them study here! The elementary, middle and high schools were all within walking distance given our location, they had great friends and we got great friends through them over these years. They also got a decent well rounded learning experience be it academics (thanks to all the "subject aunties" who tutored them where the teachers could not give individual attention), sports or music.... especially music! These schools had amazing music teachers who truly inspired! This place is also beautiful. We don't realize it everyday as we go through the grind, but when sitting in the stands looking at the graduating class, the backdrop was just beautiful!

While Jr. got to go places while still in high school (be it as a exhange student in Taiwan, a trip to rural Indonesia as part of a camp, a training program in Berkeley, etc.) the little one was not so lucky as she was pretty much grounded and at home thanks to COVID. That goes for almost all her classmates who missed out. 

So she was naturally hesitant to go far away. That is always music to my ears as I would like to see the kids every now and then. Not sure if I can handle San's undivided attention. It always reminds me of the ant that gets burnt by the lens. That said, both kids will be going to school in California.  The little one for undergrad and Jr. for a masters. 

While Jr. missed out on prom and a graduation ceremony thanks to COVID, she really enjoyed the grad ceremony and lived it through her sister! She made a secret collage gift and seeing that made my day!

Taking prom and grad pics made me tear up a lot. All these kids we have seen grown up over the years are now going out to the world as adults. Still see them as noisy kids yelling and screaming excitedly in the car as I used to take the group to badminton class every alternate week. 

(that background was modified using Photoshop.. I did have some fun editing grad pics!)

The little one was so happy that grandma made a quick visit for her graduation!

Slowly reconciling myself to the fact that this is going to be a very sad empty nest. Time to play board games till 3AM with a continous flow of chai with our friends I guess. We can do that again now that there are no kids in any of the houses... (in case I lost you there, here is an old old post from this blog!). 

Life does come full circle!

The kids have done us proud so far! Hope they keep succeding at whatever they try!

Screen time

It has been sometime since I came back to blog about anything. Life has been interesting as usual. A recent business trip that ended up with delayed flights, a missed connection, multiple subseqent delayed flights all in an effort to just  return home made me weak and tired. Also ended up with a virus which left me with a lasting eye infection for a good 10 days post all other symptoms. 

Doctors advice was to minimize staring at the screen.. so work had to be done in intense installments between eye drop sessions, driving was difficult, Yoga attendance became sporadic, social media took a break as did this blog.

The last three days have been better. I am back online with some self restraint. 

While all this was going on, the kids started school last week. The little girl who made us toil every morning just to go to kindergarten, is now a senior at high school..

The little one is also now a high schooler and that puts things in a different perspective! 

Had taken these pictures last week but never got a chance to download and edit them.. 

We are getting into the routine for this year. There is a lot less driving given Jr. drives herself. 

One theme that keeps coming back in the house is "daddy is getting old"..

We are all getting old. Also this "if you do all this yoga, how come you are sick?" discussion. Traveling in dirty airplanes can be a risky thing for anyone. 

Then there is the "if you do all this yoga, why do you get angry?". No one said you will be emotionless if you do Yoga. You get to control the anger faster, at least that is what I am striving for. 

The kids are still on daddy's side on all these arguments. Will have a tough time when they are not around as there will be no one to take my side.

Mentally preparing for it starting this year. 

Dreading that day..

Jr. is part of a student exchange program and is spending the spring break in Asia. Given dads struggles in Asia over the last three years to get around, get the right food etc. and realizing learning Mandarin in your forties is not easy no matter how many languages you already have a grasp of, asked her to take Mandarin in school as the language.

She thought it was a good idea and went with it. Her Chinese is already way way better than mine, given she spends an hour at least on it every day and I spend 20 mintues in the night on days I get a chance. Also that brain is more moldable!  

We dropped her off on a rainy evening to go be part of a 9 day trip to put her Mandarin to test, be with a host family, make new friends and have an experience that she will remember for a long time..

We are going through a partially empty nest syndrome this week. The house feels empty because the mom daughter or sibling fight noises have reduced to nothing! 

I know that I did this to my parents and left the house and have not gone back, but my brother stays with my parents. Not sure if either kid will stay with us the way things are going.

The little one does come and sleep on my hand every now and then. So this morning I told her

"do you want to go to 

Daddys arm college of engineering,

Daddys arm college of Medicine,

Daddys arm college of arts and sciences or

just stay with daddy?"

She gave me a shy smile and said "Daddy, you know I will have to go to College somewhere right? Don't worry, I will come back!"

Know she means it, but things will change. Made that same promise to my mom and went back on it because things changed, I changed. 

Later in the day there was a discussion about that conversation and daddy was being psychoanalyzed and the conclusion was "maybe I am scared of being alone with my wife and worried about getting her undivided attention".. 

Now that day, I dread! Right now anyone she turns her attention to, is under pressure and the three of us take turns. Imagine all the power of that glare concentrated on one person.. I will be like those ants burnt by sunlight being focused by a water drop in one of those National Geographic programs!

It is going to be an interesting time when the kids are off.. 

Conversations with the little one

Recent happening in our Kitchen. San is getting ready to make a special dish for Tamil New year (Vadai's, a spicy south Indian donut) and the little one tells her :

"Amma, please give me the salt so I can put it in the batter"

San : Why?

Little one : So eveyone will know "I cooked it"!

San : Why do you get to say you cooked it just because you put the salt in?

LO : Madras Paati (her grandma .. my mom) told me that it doesn't matter who does the cutting, mixing and other things. The "real" cook is the one who puts the salt! 

We were laughing out so loud after hearing that. She had completely missed the point. My mom had told her that the real skill was in judging how much salt and spices to put and that is where the true cooking expertise is. The little one intepreted that literally as "the person who physically puts the salt in". She did get it after we explained the devil in the detail of Madras Paati's words! 

Now she is working on guessing the right amount of salt for various things and she is not far off. This one is going to be a great chef! 

Over the weekend, we visited the Great Mall and as usual we shopped for the kids when there were no plans to buy them anything. Spent 2 hours buying unplanned things and 10 minutes at the store in the last minute on the intended purchase! 

The little one lobbies the parents individually over a space of 30 minutes and gets herself a pair of Converse shoes. Apparently these ones have a special name as the shoe has a small piece of canvas covering the ankles. I already forgot what that name was. Anyways, she goes "Appa, these are the best shoes. Everyone (lists 10 friends) wears them at school and they have a STAR on them and by the way, they last longer".. The last longer part was added for my benefit so it would clinch the argument. She knew the price tag would not allow the "it is less than 20$ limit" arugment and played it safe. 

Me : These are canvas shoes. They were like "economy class" shoes in India when I was growing up. We used to wear this from 1st grade to 12th grade in school as part of our uniform. They are the same as Bata shoes!

LO : NO! They are not. That is CANVAS. This is CONVERSE!

Me : Look, this IS made of canvass.

LO : No, canvass is what I paint on in art class.

Me : Same thing. Look, we used to put white polish and paint our shoes. It is the same material, just not hardened wiht starch on the back.

LO : I have been to the Bata store. Those shoes don't have a STAR on them that says converse. Anyways you don't get the Bata thing here you know! 

Me : by the way, when I was in Europe, I saw that every street corner had a Bata store! Next time I go, can buy one for you from there.. 

By now she was worried of losing some argument somewhere and did not want to walk out without the shoes. I could see it in her eyes. So we got her the shoes and made her day!

I still don't get why a pair of canvass shoes should cost 25 bucks. Anyways, they have done a good marketing job capturing the 8 year old third grader market.

The little one always amazes me with the way she tries to reason with me. We used to watch Jr. go through this phase. Now we watch the little one. Just a question of time before this innocence will be lost to cold hard reasoning! 

The photo is courtesy of Jr. who is now into this Sketch art thing. Starts taking random pics in the house and works on a software in the iPad and makes them into sketch drawings. Some of her work is very good. We might even end up framing a few!

The girls are growing up too fast to my liking. Sigh! 

Old is gold!

We have been watching "Baby photos" and "Baby videos" over the last week at bedtime. We stumbled on a few folders in the archives that we have skipped all along!

A drag and drop error had secretly hidden the folders inside other folders. 

The contents were so amusing that we had to share!

Jr.'s re-enactment of her circle time at school reminded me of my brother re-enacting his kindergarten class at home for us when we were kids!

Simbu should pat himself on the back for coming up with a catchy song that a 4 year old girl can sing with an American accent.. 

Needless to say, we miss those days!