Tamil New year 2019

Another year rolls by.. and this year I had to explain to kids why Tamil New years day is as important to me as Jan 1st. They saw it as something less to celebrate.. the world turns irrespective of our celebrating and all these days are random markers in time .. birthdays, new years based on different dates.. etc.

I had to tell them about the history of New years on Jan 1st and how things have changed just in 2000 years with respect to Jan 1. The Tamil year system is more complex but the new Years is April 14th. 

We went to the temple yesterday given it was Rama Navami and decided to stay put at home today. There is 4 temples in the area and they are all super crowded. So we prayed for a good new year on "new year's eve" I guess! 

We were glad to have some friends visit us for lunch. The highlight was San's friends parents who came and blessed us with all their heart. To me, that is always what I miss about Tamil New Year here. When in India, you go to older relatvies and get their blessing.. Here I look around and realize that I AM the older relative!!! (when my MIL is not around). 

My MIL was happy today as well as she was superseeded by folks who could bless her! 

and what is a new years post without a family portrait?!

I am not exactly jet lagged but tired. It was time to turn on the sprinkler system today and I have not spent much time in the backyard in ages.. so went to check on things and ended up pulling out a lot of weeds.. some of them got to me. So I had puffy eyes for the pictures.. 

My saluations to all the elders on New Years and my blessings to all my younger family members.. Yes, I am now old enough to start blessing people as well as receive blessings.. 

This years name is Vihari, which is the 32nd of the 60 year cycle.. Wikipedia may not be the best source for this information (whenever westerners get to write or rewrite history..  a lot is lost in factual accuracy and translation)..but for what it is worth here is the link..

Given 2019 as a year did not start well for me.. counting on Vihari being a good year for me.. we can always count new years different ways, no?! 

That alone tells you that it really does not matter where the count starts. It is a good reason to celebrate, thank your stars and more importantly thank your elders and make sure you understand your responsibility as an older person to set an example for the young ones on this pretext.

The earth continues revolving and that is a good thing..

It is an interesting life

After coming into 2019, writing all those posts on Belize, trying to get back into the routine.. got some bug from somewhere that had me down for most of the previous week.

Everytime I tried to rest, do yoga, drink fluids and recover, it kind of knocked me back. Even San was sick for a day or two.. to a point where both of us could not get up in the morning and the kid missed first period in school! 

That has not happened in our parenting history.. 

My colleagues were not exactly happy to see me at work every morning and understandably so. I would barely make it to a little post lunch before deciding to come back home. 

The funny thing was that a lot of folks kept honking at me while driving. Given I was not taking any medication that would make me drowsy and I was fully conscious.. and drive slowly.. was really suprised by all that honking.

Then San tells me that the indicator lights are flashing different. Yesterday got honked again but it was raining and in the reflections saw that my turn indicator lights were not flashing!!

That explained all the honking. Promptly took the car to get it checked.  Thought it would be a bad bulb but then the guy tells me to pop the hood to see what is going on and this is what we saw!

The guy is like "what bird nest is that? it has chewed through the insulation and is there for the warmth".. 

Me : I know what did that! It is a squirrel. Recently my neighbor has put some squirrel repellent electronic gizmo around their oak tree and all of them are in our front yard looking for a new home.. we were travelling during the break and the car was parked outside.. guess it made a perfect nesting spot

The top foam is a noise reduction insulation which is something that has to be ordered.

With squirrels come insects.. was scratching my feet yesterday and was wondering why would something bite me in the car.. it is pretty well insulated.. well, now everything is explained.

Now we need to squirrel proof the car. 

Even before this was having a conversation with Jr. when we detected the indicator issue. 

Jr.: can we sell this car and get a small Prius instead? I can drive it

Me : you can drive this car till it can no longer drive. what is wrong with that

Jr. : it is dirty! 

Me: I will wash it

Jr.: you only wash the outside. You have to clean the inside

Me: okay

Jr.: That yogurt stain has been there in the back seat for three years. You don't sit in the back seat okay? I do.. all the time. If you don't get that stain off, you better sell that car and buy another one.

Me: your mom is lobbying for a Tesla. We cannot afford it right now. You want me to replace a car for a Yogurt stain.. Where have I gone wrong?  

Jr.: I am not getting between you, Amma and the Tesla. All I am saying is I don't want to drive the Leaf or this Prius. The Leaf brakes I don't like. The Prius brakes hard and I like it, but I would be more comfortable in a smaller Prius. 

So basically she wants to buy a Leaf sized Prius. I think she also knows that she cannot go far in the Leaf other than school, target, whole foods, trader joes, safeway or one of the local classes she or her sister go to. The prospect of becoming a replacement chauffer for her sister is weighing heavily.. guess she wants to be able to drive "farther".. 

Meanwhile the "Tesla debate" is continuing. The red carpool sticker is still valid only for 3 years. When your commute becomes 2 hours a day.. time to rethink everything. 

My idea of a green car is any fully electric car.

My idea of a commuter car is something that can take me to local places fast. The carpool sticker is more valuable than the car.

My idea of a self driving vehicle is a public transport bus. ( I am not driving !)

Given that logic, the Leaf seems as good as a Tesla given we don't really "need" all those fancy features.  However, people tell me the "feeling" and "experience" part.. etc. 

Many years ago, I was fortunate to work with a Maintenance Manager by the name of Ray Romero. He passed away after fighting cancer. One day in his typical style he called me and said "Sundar, I want to have a chat with you".

So we go to an office and Ray has some popcorn and water melons waiting for me. He goes "you know, I love working with you. You had no experience working with direct labor, but were willing to listen and learn from us. you also have a good sense of where money is wasted"

I knew there was a "but" somewhere in the conversation that was coming... and it did. You know that part you are negotiating? We waited three days and got it down from 5000 to 4000.. but now we are waiting another three days to get it from 4000 to 3800.. The first move was smart. The second one not so. I know when someone called you a "cheap bastard" you told him it will be taken as a compliment. But you should know when there is a diminshing return for time vs money.

It was an important lesson that he taught me. Still use it everyday at work and outside. You should know when to stop haggling.

Where were we? Squirrels, car, one more reason to find fault with the current car to say "let's get a Tesla!"

Forget the car. What do we do about the squirrels?

Might have to buy one of those gizmos and put it inside the hood of the car.. and also try to build them an alternate nesting site of some kind... 

The perfect aftershave..

Yes..

Yours truly.. Dudeji Beardybaba, as I was affectionately called by friends and family alike over the last few months have had a setback of sorts in prepping for my next career move. 

To put it simply, the beard is gone. It just got to that point where letting it go, became an appeling option.

The beard survived for 7+ weeks and it was no longer patchy. It was an "official" beard that could enter into a beard competition.. it made it to Asia through multiple airport securities without being the cause for "random" security screening as was expected by the rest of the face.

It made it through multiple meetings.. it made it through rides in the Shanghai metro where it was the only beard on the entire damn train.. well I was the only Indian on the entire damn train, but the beard stuck out to the point where kids were staring at me non stop and their parents were politely teaching the kids "not to stare". The beard become a social education tool for Chinese parents.. it had value!

Having finished work in Asia, gave up on biz upgrade chances and flew back early on "premier economy", just to beat jet lag by sleeping in my own bed. The beard became "itchy and scratchy" during the return trip while attempting to sit and sleep by leaning on the plane window!  

It got completely messed up.Could have taught homeless hobos, how to look like legit homeless hobos after getting out of SFO. My Uber driver was not sure if I was the passenger or some guy trying to get a free ride, and was checking twice. Even that believe it or not, was not the last straw.

My lovely wife of almost 20 years, always greets me with an unreserved hug when I come back from Asia.. she is glad to see me because she knows the next pickups and drop offs from classes for kids,  will all be on me at least for a few days post my return.. Today she gave me a hug that said "yes, I would like to hug you, but without getting anywhere close to your face".. it was a hug that one gives their boxing match opponent or a hug your nurse gives you at the time of discharge when you are the huggy type and she too is the huggy type based on her other patients, but you are being discharged, after being treated for rashes.. 

That was it..a line was drawn and I decided to shave. It turns out that shaving a 7 week old beard is not easy. Having had no such prior experience, it was tricky. First you have to use a trimmer to cut it down and then shave, or you can cut yourself pretty badly. (note, if you need additional tips, will be glad to give you some).. 

After 15-20 minutes, the beard was gone.. but it is not easy to get used to its absence. Did not realize that I got used to the beard.. it kind of grew on me!

After coming home, had a severe migraine and stomach pain and did the only thing I could think of under such circumstances.. Go do Bikram Yoga. 

Went to the first class that was available after coming home and the class was awesome. Somehow my symptoms after shaving off a 7 week beard was similar to what folks describe after getting their limb amputated. It was weird. Standing in front of the mirror and breathing made my nose all hot. It was like running an airconditioner without the filter.. 

Then halfway down the class, while doing leg stretching head to knee pose, a few gallons of sweat just went straight into my nose. The whiskers and beard would not have allowed that.. It took me a few minutes to recover from the stinging in my nose and sinuses before rejoining the class. 

There is one good thing about having a clean face. I can actually see myself smile better in the mirror and it makes for great positive reinforcement. 

Also the yoga class did me a world of wonders. When you sweat like crazy, that skin smoothes itself out and all the itching and scratching is gone! 

San took before and after photos..the little one hasn't seen me yet and will possibly be thrilled that the beard is gone. She was not a fan..

Same smile, but one gets trapped in the beard. Now when the teacher in Yoga class says "with your happy smiling face..." there is a visible happy smiling face!!!

The beard did have the best run this time..who knows when it will come back?!!