Ganesh Chaturthi 2016

Ganesha's birthday is usually celebrated in this house, except under extreme duress when we have cut a cake and sang a happy birthday song to celebrate it western style. 

Usually though, San and or MIL do the good eats, I do the pooja and we all eat and take a nice nap after being stuffed to the gills with Kozhukattai (dumplings)!

Today the long weekend helped with the relaxed atmosphere. I went to yoga class while San finished making the dumplings and Vadai.. which I will now present to you in HDR.. it was yummy. I say it in past tense because we were all digging in as fast as we could.

San has understood the concept of suppy and demand and recently she makes very small quantities of delicious stuff. The thing disappears off the kitchen table as soon as it is offered to the gods and she claims success! 

Some of my friends call this "sundar going into full Poojari mode"..will take that as a compliment. The apple did not fall far from the tree. . .  

There is a good chance this prayer thing might die with my generation. Will do it while I can to celebrate a certain event in a certain way. After that.. the world evolves with or without you!

For some reason, going off the philosophical deep end again. My dad used to do the prayer with such gusto and happiness. Last week I was told by my mum that dad's hands are shaking so much that he doesn't sit for prayers anymore. 

Was physically here doing the prayer, but my mind was in Chennai hoping that the new medication they are giving him will stop the shakes or at least slow it down so we can have long coherent conversations on the phone again. 

Happy Ganesh Chaturthi to everyone! 

Hope you had a dumpling filled day!

An equal opportunity blog that needs new names

Jr. is all grown up.. obvious.. 

but the little one.. she makes us realize every minute that she is growing up.. this one is not creeping up on us silently. She makes a bold statement with her presence every waking minute. 

While it was a big day for Jr., the little one had her own big event in the morning. 

They had a "Clap out" for the fifth graders on their last day at elementary school. In case you are wondering what a Clap out is.. here it is!

There was also a small display of the kids and their projects.. 

Her teacher made me cry by telling me what a sincere and hard working kid she is. 

I begged her for a selfie or photo with her, having rushed straight from the airport to the clapout.. but she is going through a "Nofie" phase. Grandma managed to get a snap.. 

Finally after 9 years we will not be visiting this school that frequently anymore.. we will still go biking in the track around the playground every now and then or go say hi to the teachers on teachers day, but as far as this family goes, we are officialy out of elementary school! 

We are now be back to the middle school, with the little one. 

Jr. is still my junior and the little one will always be our little one!

They have grown up and I was thinking of new nick names for them, or maybe it is time to just start mentioning them by their name going forward?!

Jr. grows up without us realizing it!

It feels like yesterday when Jr. was complaining about the blog being all about her baby sister and how her birth and early life was not detailed here.. and to appease her I made this video 

and it feels like day before yesterday that those events in the video happened ! 

Before we realized it, this little girl is all grown up and is now going to high school. 

In a space of two weeks we saw her do a Bharatanatyam performance with her dance school, get glasses, do a solo with pros thanks to her Saxophone teacher, do a band performance at school, get a distinguished student award, look way cooler than her daddy and walk graduation! 

This girl who is now into signature posing.. continues to impress us with her perseverence and work ethic! 

Her teacher had some nice things to say about her and told me that Anjana would make a great teacher. Think her school teacher grandma will be very proud!

 

The highlight of this week though was that both kids graduated from their respective schools and are moving on to new schools. It was great not to just watch Jr. but all her friends graduate. All these kids we have seen grow along with Jr. over the last 9 years, practically as an extended family! 

The smile on her face says it all. There is a confidence, an assertiveness, a certain independence that we are seeing now that was not there last year. It is reassuring to see her go through this phase at this age. By comparison I was a clueless kid till the age of 18. The kids in the US may not be pushed hard enough compared to how we were 30 years ago in India when it comes to Math, Physics or Chemistry (my perception) but they are surely getting a more well rounded education with a better perspective on how what they learn is going to change things in the future for them and everyone (again my perception). 

 

Recently a guy in Asia gave me a compliment "you look like you are 46-47 years old!" . He thought it was underestimating my age. I did not say anything and just smiled. 

Compared to the 13 year old, I do look 45 when I am 43, and for once, I am okay with it, because I am now "cool" by association! 

They say when you feel time go by fast, you are happy and when you feel time stands still, you are not in a good place. Thirteen years flew by! 

Credit to Jr. for making us proud and happy. I can already imagine writing a post on Jr. going to college. Hope she does well in high school as well over the next four years..