Navarathri 2021

Last years Golu was a wash, because of COVID. It was also when I missed Jr. a lot as she was setting in college and getting busy. 

This years Navarathri was better. I had just landed after a hectic last minute trip to Chennai just after Navarathri started. So it was nice to be invited to a few golus in the bay area. Most of the golus this year were ladies only events and that meant, not a lot of Golu pictures.. we even went to a drive by golu this year!

This year I tried to continue a thing I started in 2019.. trying to match wife's saree color with my shirt color. It was a challenge as my wardrobe, while colorful, is no match for her variety! Once I set this trend and make it fashionable, it will only be a question of time before Nalli and Pothy's start selling matching shirts to the sarees. You will hear this soon "idhu sari with blouse ma, idhu sari with blouse and Shirt!".. you heard that here first! just remember..

There were a lot of new dolls which was impressive given people managed to get these shipped here during COVID. We also visted a few folks for the first time and saw interesting dolls, some that date back a century and were handed over for generations!

This year, I was asked to sing in a few Golus and did that. Have only been singing movie songs recently, but decided to give it a try. Wife give me a smile and said "not bad!" which is as much of a compliment I can expect to get. Next year, will learn, practice and sing a few classical songs if everything goes well!

All that said, here are the pictures of the golus and some dolls that caught my eye..

Hopefully by next year, COVID is a thing of the past and we get to visit more golus. There are many families that have lost dears ones in the last year and that also reduces the number of golus we visit. When you hear "we lost a relative, so no golu this year in our house!" over and over again, the magnitude of COVID strikes you!

All these trips got me to feel somewhat normal again after that Chennai trip. 

We did do a quick Saraswathi Poojai and Vijayadasami, given they both fell on working days and I was in meetings for the most part of those two days! 

It would be a big miss if I forget to mention the food over the last week.. sundals, vadais of different types and sizes, payasams, pooris, kuzhi appams, etc. etc. either I got to eat them directly or San got me parcels from the ones she visited. Given I had lost 5 lbs over 15 days with the trip, have almost put all the weight back in one week now. 

Wish the kids take more interest in dressing up and visiting golus in a few years once they are out of their busy high school/college life!

If I can try to learn carnatic music (again for the 4th time in my life) at this age, there is hope for them! 

Wishing you all a wonderful year of learning ahead! May the godess Saraswathi bless you with learning everything you wish to learn and may you find the right guru to teach you!!

Happy Ganesha Chathurthi

Today is a celebration for the elephant headed god Ganesha, the remover of obstacles. Was able to take a few hours this morning to finish the pooja. San was busy in meetings as well, but still managed to make some yummy kozhukkattais, Vadai and Payasam. 

She even recorded me this time doing the archanai for Pullaiyaar!

One kid is eating a qdoba sandwitch for lunch after attending college and standing in a long lunch line while the other kid is in school, still fighting a stomach issue after a month.

Celebrating between the two of us is still okay and we are getting used to making do with what we can, when we can.

My pulliyaar for this poojai has not changed in decades. 

Looking at this one always makes me smile and be positive. Maybe it is just a habit I have developed over the decades! Think of this as one of my Horcruxes.. 

San clicked this while she was talking to me about how I had a deadline to finish the neivedhiyam(food offering to Ganesha prior to it being distribution worthy) before her next meeting and I look up annoyed and she clicks.... apparently this is what passes for candid photography by wifes standards.

I am not this grumpy by default. Just didn't like to be rushed for the pooja!

Then there was a kozhukkattai (dumpling) exchange with our neighbor. I got called out to the front to take a picture. My legs were numb from sitting in same place for an hour. So got up and literally wobbled out of the house as the blood returned to my feet.  In my rush didn't realize that my dhoti had come undone slightly on one side! My neighbor points this out  just before clicking and I make a joke on top of her joke and voila..

As long as we have great friends and San keeps laughing at my jokes, think we will be okay! 

that is more like the normal me!

and a video that San took during the poojai...

Was thinking of my grandpa a lot today and my dad. They are both big on getting saamandhi poo for the poojai. Usually we have yellow crysanthemums at this time which I use. This year they are late to bloom and the plant is full of buds that have yet to open! A thousand memories ran past my eyes as I finished the poojai. Some of my happiest memories of celebrating in India are from the Pulliayaar chathurthis. Compared to that, this is a very simple celebration.

My grandpa is a memory and my dad is not in a position to do pooja anymore. All I can do is show him these photos and videos to cheer him up.

We make to with what we can, but celebrate we still do!

A festive and exhausting weekend

Started writing this post and somehow it took on too sad a tone. So decided to post about the mornings hike first!

The festival season is officially open. That starts with the Varalakshmi nombu, observed by the women. This year was a muted affair given the pandemic and also because Jr. was leaving for college early the next morning. 

Cooking and packing don't mix. That sums up that. Still San did a great job and got us some goodies and did her pooja. Have said this before a zillion times.. she is always my madisar wearing hottie! She lights me up whenever she dresses up in her wedding saree. 

The weekend had the thread changing ceremony for the guys in our family on Saturday followed by a 1008 time recitation of the Gayathri mantra today! These events have been described in this blog for a good 16 years now.. bottomline, I get to change my thread, meditate for a long time using a mantra for at least that day. On normal days I say it a 108 times in 6 minutes. Every 90 minute hot yoga class is a moving meditation and some classes I just move with the Gayathri mantra going on in my head in an infinite loop and that count would be close a 1008 as well on most days. 

The reason for the sad tone of the post that got scratched? Flight reliability. I have not been on a plane since we landed from Costa Rica on New Years day 2020. As most of you know, my Asia trips came to a halt as did all travel. Since then San has flown once to Seattle and her flight was delayed 5 hours. Jr. came and went from the midwest twice last year and both times she was fortunate to not have more than 30 minute delays. The MIL has come and gone back to India without event. 

This time our luck ran out. Jr. sat in a plane for 2 hours and they aborted the flight for some mechanical issue. So I went back to SFO to get her back home and there was a scramble to book her on the next flight where she could make a connection. A note to parents.. when considering your kids college, think about if it is a direct flight away or if there is a connection. Connections make it incredibly difficult, especially to smaller cities. We had to go back to SFO a third time to drop her off for the red eye. I know Uber drivers do this all day, but they have the practice and experience and their passengers are not anxious children who are worried about making it to campus before school starts Monday.

The idea that she should be here on Nombu day was tricky. We did not anticipate this flight issue. Why planes show up at gates, board all passengers and then find out they have issues is beyond me! This is one issue that seems to have no progress over the years!

She finally made it to campus today. Given the mornings experience, I did not sleep till the flight status changed to show the plane left the runway. It was on the runway for 30 minutes on a red eye! Lets say I didn't sleep last night. 

Was wondering how my parents dealt with it when I left home.  There was no texting, no facetime, no nothing. We left on a train and reached college 42 hours later. There was no feedback loop. Same thing when I came to grad school. Maybe all this technology is making me more anxious than I should be!

Over years of traveling I have had flights canceled, sat in plane and been de boarded, have slept in airport floors over night, but all of these experiences were not a big deal because it was me. Maybe my family had some anxiety but I doubt it. Maybe the lesson in this is for me to let Jr. go through these learning experiences and teach her all my travel tips. 

In the middle of the first and second trips to SFO, I had manged to do the thread changing ceremony! After very little sleep last night and going on a sleep walking hike for 8 miles, came home and did the Gayathri japam this morning.

Given the mental and physical exhaustion, did the only thing I know that can give me that "you are dead and back, nothing can touch you now!" feeling. So went and did yoga to wrap up the day!

Here are some pictures in random order..

It has been a hectic weekend and I need a weekend from this weekend, or so it feels!

Now I have to just contend with Facetiming Jr. for the next few months!