When the time comes..

A few days ago, was going through a horrible time with the nose bleeds and all the other symptoms that come with an allergy attack. Thanks to all the cotton type stuff floating around in the air, a bee that decided to sting my leg and the temperature fluctuations in general. 

It was impossible to sleep with all the pain and I definitely did not want to go and get yet another prescription for Amoxycilin 500 and go through a cycle of switching sinus problems to stomach problems which is usually followed by a week long diet of only rice and yogurt to bring back the good bacteria in my stomach. Normally would go do Yoga just when the nose starts getting blocked and things would get back on track.

This time it was past that point and had to suffer through it. With all that pain, was trying the many tricks to just get to sleep. First it was patting myself on the back just like my mother used to do when same thing used to happen as a kid. That didn't work. 

Then suddenly out of the blue, was reminded of a song that my father used to play on a Philips Gramaphone record player to put me to sleep.. did a search on youtube and found one instance of the exact same song by M.S. Subbulakshmi and voila, was dozing off. What a divine voice! Even for someone who did not understand the words as a kid, the imploring voice always used to put me to sleep and calm me down!

Have been listening to this song a few times in the last week just reminiscing about the sound of that player and the needle moving slowly towards the center of the black disk in the glow of the night light when we were little kids. 

I am soo going to go buy a turntable and see if my dad still has those records in the attic and play them for Jr. and the little one!

Yesterday there was a weird dream. I am in bed dying. For some strange reason, everyone is around me and they know I have very little time, but there is a struggle and I am having difficulty letting go.. Then my sister, Jr. and the little one all sing this song in chorus and I let go and die. It was one of those dreams that actually made me sweat and sit up in bed! Funny thing was that I am older but all of them look the way they do today!

It was  a dream.. so whatever! Played that song for the kids today and said "if someday I am lying on my death bed, please sing this song for me and will leave this planet a happy man!" The kids got all pissed off for my mentioning death beds and said "we will never ever sing this song". 

Now I have my work cut out for me.. 

Mothers day

Every day is mother's day.. but when you live in a world where only one day is made special to mothers, one tends to go with the flow!

The kids made a cake, decorated it and let Mom cut it. By the time they were done fighting over who gets to write what on the cake, mom had pretty much given up hope on the cake's cuttability if such a word exists. 

Apparently it came out good and the three of them ate a sizeable portion of it. Daddy was happy to just play photographer as all those colorful things on top cannot be good as they are all some concentrated form of sugar!

In case you are wondering why Jr. has a big "bindi" aka "pottu" smack dab in the middle of her forehead instead of the tiny dot right between her eyebrows (mommy style).. she was posing for me earlier!

You see, these days it feels like I am 14 years old again because Jr. has a scary resemblence to my sister at the same age be it both at certain angles or her mannerisms.  To prove my point here is the picture of them around the same age, give or take a year difference!

Same controlled smile, same donna kaadhu, same collar bone showing, same type of earring choice.. just simply scary! Don't think I ever yelled at my sister that much when she was at that age.. but feels like I am making up for that by shouting at my sister's look alike! 

Here's to Mom's! If someone made a movie called "Mom's" the tagline should read 

"MoM's - terrorizing sons and daughters since the beginning of time"

My mother still has a superhuman ability to remote control me from the other side of the world. Not that it is a bad thing because chances are San has that magical ability and will exercise it when time comes on Jr. and the little one! Daddy Narayanan is counting on it!

On a side note, it feels like I have 34 mothers now. Every teacher at BYSJ reminds me of my mother. Almost makes me think that that my mother is giving them some secret coaching classes on how to push me past my limits. They all pick on me in class, somehow know I am trying to take it easy on some pose and call out my name and say "smaller step", "higher", "more".. and I go "how could you have possibly known that I did that? Touched my head to the floor with that wide a stance only yesterday and it was not your class. How could you possibly know! How?" .. that kind of thing happens only with Mom, because she has eyes on the back of her head and can know! 

Hope all those mom's out there had a great Mother's day. Tomorrow is unfortunately... just another day!

Taro, Pregnancy and learning- all in a days routine..

Think of two things you would not naturally connect, type them in the search box in this blog and there is probably a post about those two things.

What has Taro root got to do with Pregnancy and learning? Here is the story...

Earlier today we visited friends for lunch at their new place. There were lots of dishes, all safe items given they knew my allergy history. There was this one curry in particular that was extremely yummy. While I sat there figuring out if it was potato, plaintain or what.. she said "it is Taro.. what you call Seppan kazhangu".

I was baffled. Having had Taro all my life, especially as Taro roast, it was difficult to believe that what we were eating was actually Taro. It was crisp, had sharp outlines and the texture was as good as a potato roast. Okay, if you are not south Indian, you might be wondering what all the big fuss is about.. 

So we deviate for a little cooking lesson. Taro, is a root and when we get it from the market there is a lot of mud and dirt still on the root. My mother taught me (her mom probably taught her) that the right way to prepare Taro was to first wash the thing, put it in a pressure cooker with some salt and cook it, then remove the skin, wash again, then cut into little pieces and do the roasting with seasoning in slight oil (or if you are a roast fan like me, lot of oil). My MIL does it the same way as well! The real issue is that when you pressure cook it and remove the skin, usually the first few millimeters of the Taro is all mushy! My kids don't like to peel off the skin off boiled Taro unlike Potato because they think it is "slimy and Yukkie". 

So how did this girl, who is almost half my age, manage this miracle of sharp cut Taro pieces in a roast that was cooked yet not the slightest bit soggy? I said "Impossible! how did you manage it?" and they both say "we got tired of the slimy stuff.. so we decided to peel the Taro first, then cut it into nice pieces, then we slow cooked it in a covered pan for a long time.. much the same way we make potato roast!"

The simplicity of this approach was impresive. But have you seen Taro fresh from the Indian grocery store? Peeling it is the equivalent of giving the Yeti a haircut! you cannot even hold it in your hand right.. then there is all the mud, roots sticking out.. nevertheless, they managed it. So I have to try it now!

Humbled by this new learning and leaving their house as though we had just been to the Twilight zone, came home and quickly went to Yoga class. Our hosts and my ever supportive family were laughing when I said "have to go yoga this evening" because they were not sure how much Yoga a guy can do after eating 3 pounds of rice with two lbs of Taro and some nice dessert to top things off. 

Still, off I went with the idea that if things got too difficult, would take a kneel. That is when the second surprise hit me. The instructor for the class was pregnant. Not early pregrant.. Her due date is less than 2 weeks away and this was her last class before delivery. 

Trust me, there is nothing more scary than a very pregant woman on the podium shouting "stretch you hands to the right, your knees to the left, come down and push, Push, PUSH!" 

and there is nothing more embarassing than you looking equally pregnant with Taro, unable to execute the PUSH instruction! 

When you have an instructor who is so inspiring, you have no excuses for slacking off. So after that, did the rest of the class giving it my 120%. That room was hot and there were 5 newbies in there who needed to be watched and she taught with as much attention to detail as any other teacher. Truly amazing and inspiring! If you need a visual, here she is in a class as student in another class earlier this week.

So there you have it.. Taro, pregnancy and learning.. all in a days routine! 

On a funny note, a conversation with Jr. earlier today:

Jr.: Appa I am sweaty. It is so hot in our bedroom. Can you put the fan on?

Me : really? (Touch her forehead and neck). yes! you are sweaty.. you know what that means?

Jr.: (thinks for a second) and goes "Oh NO! you are going to make me come to regular yoga class with you?! it is going to be 90 degrees for 90 mintues!"

Me : yes and no. Yes, because you can sweat now and that means you can come to yoga class with me. No because it is not 90 degrees for 90 minutes.. it is 105 degrees for 90 mintues.. welcome to the torture chamber!

She is thinking of finding other excuses to bail on the promise.. We will see about that!