Happy Diwali

It is always difficult when Diwali comes in a weekday and you are in the USA. They should declare it a holiday at least in Cupertino!

Wishing you all a wonderful Diwali!

May this Deepavali bring you light and joy.

They made the Deepams (Dia's) as part of their art class. The little one is going through the "conscious phase of posing for photos" now that she is a "tween" aka "big girl"! 

As far as I am concerned, they will NEVER be big girls.

They are growing up though. Finally did a collage of them in a third nice dress this year..

Cannot believe this year is coming to an end in a few more weeks. Have to post a lot of thoughts and pictures. Will get to them before end of the year. 

For now, time to enjoy the sweets and savories made by MIL, and enjoy the smiling faces all around! 

Happy Deepavali! 

Golu 2015

This year the entire Golu visits were done over one weekend. Here are some of the golus from this year.

As usual, they were all grand and nicely done, be it three, five , seven or nine steps!

Again the kids did great side displays to show their creativity!

Some of the dolls are so intricate that these photos do not do justice to the dolls.

Golus that are new to us this year..

The rest are in this slideshow.. enjoy!

This year Jr. played the saxophone at some houses while she had the energy. She had practiced a few south Indian classical pieces and was hesistant about trying them out. We told her it was in front of friends and she should go for it. It was the highlight of the weekend.

Golus and our friends make sure we don't miss India during Navarathri season!

Navrathri 2015

Golu 2015 went by fast. We are done with the Saraswati pooja already. Tomorrow is "learning day". Time flies!

This year was probably the most hectic Navarathri season in recent times as there was only one weekend to visit our friends golus! We did the best we could from a scheduling stand point.

The photos of the golus are still being processed.. but as usual, here are some backyard shots and "out takes" courtesy of the quirky Jr. 

 Jr. was "humoring" me with Yoga poses .. 

Was tempted to say "switch your right hand the other way.. remember  mama give me money!".. instead, decided to just enjoy the moment and keep clicking. The girl seems to be bow legged just like daddy.. seems to put all her weight on the outer edge of her feet. It took me a year to stay flat footed on this pose.. where were we? These days I cannot stay on the same train of thought for more than 30 words. Backyard pictures.. that was the topic!

Usually we get at least three sets of pictures.. this year we got only two. 

Also Jr. had to go to a dance performance which lasted all of 5 minutes . There was 30 minutes for make up, 45 mintues driving.. have informed the family that going forward they have to submit an ROI spreadsheet and I will review it before going to such "performances".

Remember this Photoshop masterpiece from three years ago? 

Tried to recreate it this year. But got only 4 kids this year instead of the 6. There is still time. If they pose for me tomorrow in another set of fancy clothes just for the photo, we can make a "teen saal baad" (three years later) collage. 

On the plus side, my photoshop skills are still intact. Took me all of 20 minutes to get this picture done. Three years ago, it took me hours. 

Wishing everyone a great closure to Navrathri celebrations. Tomorrow is Vijaya Dasami. A day to start learning new things and a very special day for arts and crafts.. Maybe I will pick up my guitar and play Stairway to Heaven.. who knows. 

Given I am cranky as hell last few weeks, it is time to surprise myself and the family!

A different August

This blog is a good screenshot of our life over the last ten years. Every August has been marked by sickness of some kind for me. 

For the first time, this August went without me being sick. To that we have to thank god, and that we did yesterday morning..

We have celebrated Ganesh Chathurthi (aka Pillayar Ummachi's birthday in our house) every year and sometimes it has been a full blown out weekend thing with every type of Kozhukkattai (dumplings) and other times a quiet prayer where we just sang "Happy birthday to you" in front of the god and went to bed. 

This year it being a school day, we got up early and finished the pooja and the food ready before it was time to get the kids to the breakfast table. 

The little one took that picture. She is getting better every day at taking pictures.

This Ganesha idol was given to me by my dad 24 years ago. It was actually glued on to a "day sheet calendar". It became the pooja Ganapathy during my college days as this was the only 3D version. It makes me think of my dad everytime I set this idol down on the floor and start the prayer. 

We had a huge health scare in the family in August, but fortunately things turned out okay. We all thanked Pillayar Ummachi for helping us through this tough time.  

We are now into a long weekend with no travel plans. That means, it is time to go work on the other 1000 pictures left from the Jaipur trip!

Holi vilayaadu paapaa (ஹோலி விளையாடு பாப்பா)

As the great Mahakavi should have said "ஹோலி விளையாடு பாப்பா" ... as in dude speak "Let's play Holi babies!"

Holi was celebrated across the bay area over the last 8 days, read "two weekends" just like any other major festival is over the nearest weekends. 

We were fortunate to join one of the groups celebrating Holi over the weekend. It was great fun. 

Given it was with some of my IT-BHU seniors, brought back so many memories of playing Holi in BHU 20+ years ago!

The Holi monk with his kids..

The little one played holi till she was drop down tired in spite of starting off with a stuffy nose!

We also got to meet another group of really nice people who happened to celebrate in the same park. They came over and said "it is not nice to have two groups play holi separately. lets all join in!".  They brought their Jelabies and Tandaii over to our table and we all put colors on everyone. It was great to see the spirit of Holi in action. 

Next stop. Easter bunny hunt at some place or other for the kids is our guess.. 

It is great to be able to celebrate as many festivals as possible.. things we never did as kids in South India. Our kids are lucky to get this diverse an experience!

Happy Holi to everyone!