Take nothing for granted

This blog usually sees only happy posts for the most part. Occasionally a sad or nostalgic/ raw post. The last month has not been easy.

The Japan trip blog series writeup was going along swimmingly well. Then there was a biz trip for a few days and my plan was to come back and finish writing about the last three days of the trip.

There was International day of Yoga and a multilingual class that we thoroughly enjoyed. Monday through Wednesday I had planned a rather hectic trip to cover multiple things. Every day there were two flights with 2-3 hour gap between flights just to be safe. In spite of that 5 of the 6 flights were 2+ hours late. The only flight on time was the last one.

Somewhere in the middle of visiting airport restrooms and plane restrooms, I had picked up my first UTI ever and did not know it. As fate would have it, my last but one flight started 2 hours late and landed 2 hours late as well. The next flight home was on time and had boarded. The last hour of the flight was extremely turbulent and we were not allowed to use the restroom. The pretzel bag and water did not make it easier. When we were about to land, the air hostess announced that four passengers could actually made their connections if we would run to the next flight that was boarding. We were in A12. Two of us had to run to A1. A mom and daughter had to run to A6. Rest of them were rebooked as they had luggage. I was traveling with a backpack. After running 12 gates and making it to the flight, I was huffing and puffing. The flight attendant in the next flight promptly handed me a water bottle and said “sir please take your seat. we were waiting for you two. we have to taxi right away”. I went to my seat and told the other air hostess “ I have been holding from going to the restroom for the last 90 minutes. I have to go. It is urgent”. She said “please just hang on for another 10 minutes. once we are airborne you can go. if you get up, we cannot taxi. Already everyone has been waiting for you. “

So I waited. Then the turbulence was back on as soon as we took off.. the seat belt sign didn’t come off for another hour and 10 minutes. By that time I thought my bladder was going to rupture. Finally they let me go. Then there was another lady two seats ahead with a baby that desperately needed a diaper change. She was also constantly pressing the button. Out of goodwill I held it for another 5 minutes. When I finally tried to pee in that plane, pain hit me like never before to the point I was crying. Came back, sat down and was glad that I was going to be home soon. It was late in the night and the advice nurse told me to take Tylenol and rest and come see the doctor in the morning. if anything changed run to ER.

Woke up at 6AM and was peeing blood. The next 10 days has been a blur. In and out of hospital, getting to ER, Urgent care, back to ER, getting admitted, being tested constantly, round after round of antibiotics after they found that the infection had spread all the way to my kidneys. The whole family was in shock. After sometime at the hospital, they agreed to discharge me on condition that someone at home will do the medicine infusion. San said she will get trained but her hands were shaking and she freaked out. Luckily the kids were both bold enough and volunteered to do the infusion at home.

A word of praise to Kaiser. They did an outstanding job of taking care of me, sending medicine home on time for the infusions with a proper kit, meticulous follow ups, the nurses who took care of me as well as the ER doctors, not to mention my PCP who spotted right away that something was off after the first round of antibiotics. Lost 6-7lbs in the 10 days, my vocal volume and reduced mobility on my left hand thanks to the IV.

A “thoo” for Delta airlines. Understand turbulence is not in their control, but not a single flight was on time during that trip except the last one. They have a “we are like this only!” attitude that really made me sad. The flight attendents were sympathetic and said “very sorry” after they saw me come out with tears in my eyes, but that doesn’t help.

My colleagues at work were extremely supportive as were my professional connections. I was supposed to chair two sessions at a conference. Had a lot of expectations from that experience but could not even make it. The doctor told me “you can’t afford to get another infection right after this. Avoid crowds, especially where folks have traveled from far and wide for a conference”. Had to excuse myself. Could only work a few days with my phone and one hand. Was only able to listen in to some meetings.

My angels and my friends came to cheer me up in the hospital. Now that I am. normal they are all calling me an idiot and I am getting eye rolls from everyone for being stupid. All said and done, I should be more careful and not do stupid stuff like this anymore.

The last 5 days has seen me catch up with things at work, talk with my usual volume and also try Yoga again. There are still a few tests to check no lasting damage but as of now I have passed everything with flying colors. Just have to rebuild the good bacteria in my system.

Never take anything for granted !! One minute you are smiling and next thing you know, being delirious with a 103 fever blabbering nonsense in your sleep. I have never seen San so worried in recent times. Gave the family and friends a big scare.

The middle photo was from last evening when Jr. came running to tell me that the sky was putting on a show. So we went to the front door to take photos.

This morning I took a selfie to send to my mom after doing Bodhayana Amavasai tharpanam. Need to eat some more and get back to normal.

Wanted to write a post on International Yoga day as well after that biz trip and that never happened. So sharing a few photos from that day here..

Have been out of blogging, social media for almost three weeks now. Wrote this as a cautionary tale for folks and to get back to blogging. No one cleans airport restrooms or plane toilets anymore given every plane is late and airports are under staffed with mostly disgruntled employees who are all now contract workers with no benefits. Take your own toilet paper when you travel. Avoid plane and airport toilets where possible. At the risk of losing a flight, take that damn pee break. Finding alternate flights is easier than finding alternate kidneys! Not worth it!!

Will try to slowly finish blogging about that Japan trip from Spring!

The Yoga journey is still on

If you have been reading this blog, it has been going all over the place.. to July 2024, then finally to other things.. There are a few things that don’t get mentioned which are reasons for all the anachronistic posts.

Last summer San and me knew there was a 9 day anniversary trip. Still we had signed up for a 60 day challenge. T-shirts make you do things I guess! For me it was a no brainer. The earlier two week trip in February had made me skip signing up for the Winter 2024 challenge. I haven’t missed a winter challenge in years! So the family knew I will sign up for the summer challenge. Given a 10 day miss for travel, we started doing doubles every day in the hot July summer. The first 22 days saw us do 44 classes.. mostly back to back. San had never done doubles before, so I was really impressed and proud of her effort. Then we went on the trip and came back to finish the challenge ahead of time. It was good we finished it ahead.

Just two days before the challenge end date, my mother called me to show my dad in Apollo ICU in Chennai. The prognosis was that he would’t make it by the time I left here and reached him. It was a timely call as I was booked for a business trip first thing the next morning. Cancelled that trip and flew to India.

By some miracle, my dad went from ICU to general ward and back home in the week I spent there. The doctor’s told me that at this point, his condition is expected to be the same for weeks or months. He was home though. My mom was relieved that he was home. Even though the room became a hospital room, he had pulled through. So with happy tears I flew back. Right after coming back we did attend the 60 day challenge party. It was a great way for me to take my mind off everything. Went right back to the regular yoga routine. I was even more determined and sure that if I did this yoga regularly, there might be a quick and painless death instead of a prolonged debilitating disease. No one knows what is going to happen or when, but one can always do some preventive maintenance.

There was no blog posts .. not just about yoga.. There was simply no mood to write anything for the rest of September and most of October till my dad stabilzed to a new routine. Then we had a planned trip to the grand canyon to hike the south rim and that brought me back to Facebook , blogging and a social routine.

Went back searching for the videos of my speech from that challenge but could only find these two pics.. (one done before my dad ended up in hospital) and another from the challenge party. That was my 15th successful challenge out of 17 attempts.

Then it was January again before we knew it. This time my MIL had informed me that she will visit us from Jan to March just to join me for the 60 day challenge. She wanted to do another challenge (having done it once). The two of us had signed up and I signed up San, given she joins me most days. Initially she was hesitant and did not want to do it. She did not even do the stickers to keep track (I was keeping track for her). When there were only 10 days left and she had to do just a few doubles, she got enticed by Michele to complete. The T-shirts were back! They had the right size too apparently! All three of us finished this challenge.

My goal for this challenge was to do a 1000 classes in trying 60 day challenges. Had already done 900 in the 15 good attempts and in the two failed attempts there was another 93. So by class 7, the goal was done. Still the challenge teaches us something about how to carry on when your brain goes on strike and how to overcome adversity.

We did go to the challenge party this time and got to share the experience. You can see the video highlights reel..

One more T-shirt got added to replace the worn out ones..

After three weeks of not being able to go do Yoga much because of nosebleeds, finally made it last two days. Plan to get back to going everyday. Yoga makes me happy and peaceful. It is a reflective time and a meditative time to let go of things that don’t serve me right. It is a great way to reset.

That said, every day, learn something new. Even this morning in class Michelle tells me “Sundar, nothing should happen with the standing leg. just move the hands and the other leg!”. This was while doing a balancing stick pose where I was instinctively rolling forward on my ankle to compensate for the imbalance. Not doing that made all the difference in the second set. Have to remember that in tomorrows class. As we form good habits, bad habits have a way of creeping up as well. Constant attention to detail with a watchful set of teachers helps me fix them over and over again. To all my teachers at BYSJ, especially Michele, Matt and Sarah, who by now know my every move and even pre-emptively correct me , a heartfelt and sincere thank you!

Thank god for teachers!

The best part of this challenge was doing it with my wife and MIL. Hopefully someday, the kids will do a 60 day challenge. One can always hope.. and screw Parkinson’s disease.. Hope they find a cure for this shit so in case I do end up with it, there is some relief. Even if I cannot avoid the physical eventuality, the Yoga practice will definitely help me handle anything mentally down the road. That much I am sure of!

The "Thank you" tour

Had called to wish my dad on new years eve. He was almost 85 and in diapers and he was not liking his quality of life. That is to put it mildly. He wanted to see me. Having gone to India every three months the previous year on business trips and having spent at least a weekend with him on those trips made it appear that we were meeting "regularly". 

Since last June my roles changed and India trips were not on the agenda. So it was understanable my dad felt that way. Also my mom reminded me that there were some "vendudhals" that were not done. The family astrologer had requested that we (San and me) go together to visit the family deity in Gunaseelam soon. San and me haven't been to India together since 2019! So we decided to do a bunch of things all at once and on an impulse bought short notice tickets to fly to India for two weeks. 

Given the girls are both in college we picked a time when they will be busy with classes, to go to India. 14 days from start to finish, 3 days for the US to India travel and back.. do as much as possible in 11 days within India! 

We are coming up on our 25th wedding anniversary in 3 months. We wanted to get blessings from my parents, inlaws, family, all the gods we know and all the gods we don't know and any higher powers that be on this trip. We are not Ambanis, but think of this as our pre-anniversary celebration! 

It is a miracle that we did everything we wanted to and made it back without any sickness.  Will blog about this trip over next few weeks. Thanked the gods in every temple we visited, for giving me San in this life.

If my life had a jingle it will be "Sundar, brought to you by Sangeetha!". Somehow this girl I had just met, took a huge chance on me knowing I was a basketcase, and decided to make something of a life for both of us.

Did pray for all my family and friends as well, every chance I got. 

Jr. called me to say "don't over pray or the gods will get bored!".  That didn't stop me!

Jotting down our trip stops in this post, as a memory marker to write subsequent posts.. Eventually will link all of them here.. 

Day 1 (in India) : Land in Mumbai and within 3 hours visit Mahalakshmi, Siddhi Vinayak

Day 2: Chedda Nagar Murugan temple Abhishegam (highlight 1)

Day 3: spent shopping and eating out!

Day 4: fly to Chennai

Day 5: Kapaleeshwar temple, valeeswarar, Saradhambal temple, Vembadi vinayagar

Day 6 : train to Rameshwaram

Day 7: Ramanadhaswamy temple and bath in the 22 wells (trip highlight 2), Ramar padam, Panchamukha Hanuman temple, Lakshmana theertham, Thiruppulaani, Uttarakosamangai and off to Madurai

Day 8: Meenakshi Amman temple, Koodal Azhagar, Noopura gangai, Pazhamudhir Solai temple, Kalazhaghar, Thiruparangundram, Thiruperundhurai Aavudaiyaar kovil, Pudukkottai Bhuvaneshwari amman temple and off to Trichy

Day 9: Sreeranganathar, Jambulingeshwarar, Gunaseelam Perumal (this was the 3rd and biggest trip highlight), Thirupaanjali Siva-Yaman temple, Thiruvellarai temple, Uttamar kovil and off to Tanjore with a stop at the Palace museum and Brighadeeswara temple (Tanjavoor Periya kovil) and off by train to Thrissur

Day 10 : Vadakkumnathan temple, Thiruvambady Krishna temple, then to Guruvayoor temple, Maamiyur Shiva Vishnu temple then drive to Cochin and fly back to Mumbai

Day 11 : Santoshi Maa temple in Chembur and a movie with San in the evening (Fighter.. meh!)

Day 12 : Juma Hanuman temple, Saradhambaal temple, Lakshmi Narasimhar temple (Ahobila mutt's) all in Chembur followed by two back to back movies (my in-laws live right next to a movie theater complex.. we can walk down and it is there!! and the theaters are mostly empty!).. DUNE 2 and Laapata Ladies which we loved.

Day 13 : pack and Visit Jio world Plaza and take off early the following morning from Mumbai to SFO with a layover in BLR

Hopefully have mentioned all the major places where we stopped. 

We fell at my parents feet for blessings and my dad who seems to be floating in space and time and he blessed us saying "now that you are married, may you have a child.. a boy!". My mom smiled and said "let it go".. she knows my take on the "boy child" blessing. I usually burn people to ashes (or try to) with my gaze when folks in India make this an issue with not having boys.  My dad is past all that. So it was easy to let it go. All that yoga has really helped. We made it to see him, even if for a few hours to wish him for his 85th birthday. It was a short and sweet flying visit. 

Grateful to all the higher powers for giving us two wonderful kids and did make it a point to say thanks. 

We do not know when we will visit India.. it might not happen anytime soon given work trajectories and kids getting busier in college. 

There is a saying "you don't get to see god when you want to.. you get to see them if they want to see you!" 

If I had to look for a highlight photo of this trip.. this is it.. Photo on the left is the first ever portrait we took together at a JC Penny a few months after we were married. Photo on right taken by San's mama at Murugan temple in Mumbai.. San gets prettier by the day (she wore the same Sari after ~25 years to make the point)

There are almost 1400 photos and videos in total to cull through and write about. For once I did't even take my SLR on the trip. Everything on the iPhone where photos were allowed.  Will get to it..