A 2020 birthday

This year's birthday celebrations across the board have been muted. Given all four of us are November born, November is a very very special month for the family.. every weekend is a birthday. 

The little one had a cupcake candle blowing with just the three of us and her sister joining by Facetime from college.

Jr. was alone in her dorm room the entire day on her birthday and we called her and wished her on video. We will make up for it with a celebration along with her mom's birthday.

My birthday today was a bit more active. Originally I had signed up for a 8AM yoga class in the hot room 9 days in advance.. but last Monday we got news that all indoor classes are cancelled. There was a parking lot yoga class this morning at 10 AM that was taught by Michelle.. she was so inspiring that the 10 of us who did yoga in 50F weather outside gave it all we had. we were sweating.. the jackets came off! They did sing happy birthday to me in class which made my day! 

Came home to wear a new T-shirt (courtesy of mom from last Decembers India trip) and had lunch with my two walking buddies. They made it special today. We got some to go food and ate in our backyard. The family also joined in from inside the house. The Bhavikas trip has to wait... 

Jr. is back from college this weekend and is in self quarantine. The very fact that she is back under the same roof makes me so happy! 

They asked me what I wanted for my birthday and I said "a family portrait". It was promised to me but the little one backed out last minute as she is busy with homework. So we do it next weekend on San's birthday!

We also walked 5 miles in the evening to round up the days activities.. I have been walking 8-12 miles a day this month to get some regular exercise. My walking buddies have made it fun. 

There is an african proverb "if you want to walk fast, walk alone. If you want to walk far, walk together!".  Even though I walk during the day sometimes while on phone meetings, the same box around the block feels a long longer when walking alone. 

One more trip around the sun. I am still in decent shape, thanks to Yoga! The last 10 years of my life have been what they have thanks to a regular yoga practice. Even the walking everyday, the discipline is thanks to yoga. 

50F ouside, my mind is telling me to just pull that comforter up a little more and I know deep down that the right thing to do, is to go do the yoga.. and at that split second I make the right call. That is what the yoga has helped me with. When push comes to shove, when there is an internal fight in the head between taking the easy way out vs. rolling up your sleeves and getting things done.. making the right call... that is precious!

I did spend an hour in the afternoon reading Obamas latest book but dozed off. The lunch was too good! 

San and kids got me a cake and a candle to celebrate just between the four of us.. Trader Joe's cake is pretty good! 

Now, it is time to pull up that comforter and cozy up and read books or get back to work.. because tomorrow is back to work day!

Next weekend we celebrate Sans birthday, my star (Tamil) birthday, my moms birthday (thanks to time difference) and Karthigai deepam.. it is good that we have a long weekend coming to do all that celebrating.. even if it is going to be on zoom! 

Hope next year same time, we can go out and meet people and get hugs instead of elbow bumps!

A big thanks to all of you who called or wished me on social media and a heartfelt gratitude to my yoga family! 

A very happy Deepavali to every one

2020 is the year of staying at home. Deepavali is a stay at home festival for the morning but in the evening, you go see all your friends and relatives and join them in the firecracker fun.. 

This year it has been a muted affair. The gatherings are smaller and we meet only people in "our bubble" which is a good thing.

We did have new clothes, great eats and some sparklers! San and me teamed up to make a lot of sweets and savories (and she got some guidance from our neighbor on some sweets and they reminded me of my grandma cooking with her aunt Ambulu when we were kids.. they would spend days planning before the cooking started!). We did go solo on some items..

She sparkles better than those sparklers..It was a good thing I adjusted an almost underexposed shot and realized this was actually a good thing!

This is the first Diwali without jr. being present at home. That was constantly in the back of my head and I am not sure how many years it will take for me to realize that you cannot expect to see kids for Diwali or take that for granted anymore! Given every now and then I manage to go to India to celebrate with my parents, know that the kids will come back home after they grow up to celebrate.. maybe more often than I did.

The little one knows of my secret plan to keep her closer to home and continues to roll her eyes everytime I suggest colleges within a 20 mile radius. 

Life comes full circle.. What I did to my parents, my kids will do to me. Good news is that I am already in the "brace" position. 

It is my sincere wish that we get over COVID soon in the coming year! People are still dying and folks are still denying the truth and reality. Diwali or Deepavali is literally the triump of truth over lies, light over darkness.. knowledge is the true illuminator! 

May knowledge and facts make a comeback after this Diwali !! 

For someone who is staying at home, we have done a good job dressing up at every opportunity.. 

Still don't know how my wife is able to handle Jr.'s being away so calmly compared to me. Either she is made of different stuff or she is faking it really well. Have some things to learn and understand.

Once again, wishing you all a wonderful Deepavali/ Diwali!!

A first time for everything...

While the rest of the US is going nuts over the elections, yours truly has been extremly happy and stayed away from most coverage.

Bikram Yoga San Jose opened its doors for Hot Yoga classes. . . Hot being the keyword.. and I have been drenched in glorious sweat every day and my sanity is on a different track. 

The little coverage that leaked through thanks to my family and walking buddies did keep me amused. Sooner or later, someone will win. Hopefully sanity will return.. The country has already gone past a point of no return in 2016 and has had a massive heart attack. It is living on borrowed time. There is only hope left.

No one in my company has gone anywhere on vacation given COVID and we have all been working pretty much round the clock since March. There was a policy change where if you exceed PTO, you take it or lose it. 

So every three weeks, taking a Friday off. The last such day off saw me go up to Hunters point and get a view of the silicon valley from the south west side. 

Today it was a much more ambitious plan to go up Mission peak in Fremont. Even though I average 7.5 miles of walking a day, it is mostly on flat terrain around the block. Don't like steep climbs as it makes my ankle swell. 

My wife encouraged me a lot to climb this by reminding me of my glory days of climbing with a 30 lbs camera bag on my back in what seems just a year ago in truth, but a decade ago in my memory. 

Off we went and thoroughly enjoyed it. Took us exactly 2 and a half hours to go up and come down from the parking lot. Some pictures..

We got a great view from the top..

The views enroute were beautiful..

For the most part San walked ahead of me.. she cannot stop on an uphill climb or she finds it difficult to start again..I cannot stop downhill or I get stuck! So we had an interesting arrangement.. 

we walked with her leading up and me leading down but with stops to catch up.. and take selfies! We met maybe a total of 10 people on either way.. had our masks in our hand and had to wear it only when we saw anyone in the other direction. That made things easier!

We got drenched on the way back with an unexpected downpour. That made this an adventure of sort, running down in rain watching the city lights..

It has taken me at least the last few hours to get my warmth back and get back to normal after what has defintiely been some exercise outside the yoga mat! 

Still prefer walks on flat terrain compared to a non stop slope, but walking with San is something that I have missed for a long time.. Just realized that today!

That grin on my face says it all !!!