For You a Thousand Times Over…

These are li’l anecdotes/ thoughts from my childhood that will remain with me forever and can never be erased from my mind. Li’l facts that have helped build the person I am today….

->As students, I or Sums (my sister) have NEVER got reprimanded by my parents for our grades/scores. I really mean NEVER. N we were only average students though extremely hardworking, burning the midnight oil etc etc types. My Dad’s theories were
a) As long as we were putting in our best and were dedicated towards our efforts, it was not fair to complain about the grades.
b) Children would be only as intelligent as their parents. He believed it was a gene-thing. So it would be unfair if they expected miracles from us.
‘ Coz of these theories, we both were very highly motivated to study real hard n score the best n make him proud of us.

->My Dad comes from an extremely poor background. 3 meals a day was a luxury. He started working at the age of 17 to support his family of 3 sisters and 1 brother. N so he was willing to do whatever, spend how-much ever for his daughters to be educated, which at that point he could not afford. When he went to get my sister admitted into LKG, the principal told him “With your kind of salary, you won’t be able to afford my school”. He told my principal to give him a fair chance n send the kids out of the school the instant he missed paying a fee.
· My sister studied in that school for 12 years and had to leave after class X coz they din’t have the course she wanted.
· I studied in that school for 14 years. That was all they had!

->Mom had a very modest background and completed her B’com in Chennai. She got married at the age of 19 and had her 1st kid when she was 20 years old. She started working for financial reasons and is today the Media Manager of an Advertising Company. Today, she gets restless if she has a break for a little over 3-4 days and says she can’t dream of quitting work. She is our biggest inspiration…as a Home-maker, a Career Woman, a Mother, a Human Being!

->There were several instances where we received scoldings from our parents. My Dad ALWAYS said Sorry, when it was an undeserved scolding. I remember, he would walk into our bedroom at night before going to sleep, kiss our foreheads n say Sorry. He believed that sorry had to be said when it has to be said. There was no age barrier for using the word and that there are times when even a one-year old has to be asked for apology!

->Sums n I were extremely close to each other as children. Even now we are. But now I’m as close to mom much as I am to sums. As a child I would say “I love sums more” so easily. Now I know how much that must have hurt mom, though she never showed how she felt!
Mom was the tough one in the family. She was never expressive .She wasn’t the hug n kiss kind. Before each of our weddings my dad would have sleepless nights of how life would be without Sums/me at home. Mom dint say a word. Now I know, that was only to make us stronger. She cried more than anyone n she feels more than anyone, but she never shows! She is really the pillar of strength for the family.

->well I’ve been in the US for a year now…My 1st year out of home and I know mom ,dad n Sums are missing me real badly. I am getting very homesick myself. In November My manager at work had told me my leave in April was approved and there was so much excitement in the air. The 1st week of 2008, she comes back n tells me, my leave is not approved. I have been so upset about it and I know I crushed a whole bunch of dreams my parents had. All that mom had to say was “Don’t worry Sweetheart, God willing we’ll see you soon. Just be brave”. She dint show any disappointment. ….Just for me!

->Sums ..well to talk about our relationship would take a lifetime…There would be no childhood or for that matter no Pavi, if not for her…. Touchwood, I think we are simply the best n the perfect sisters in this whole wide galaxy!

These are a fraction of the reasons why I’m proud of you 3..

Well for u Ma n Pa and for u Sums… I want to relive those childhood years…
FOR YOU A THOUSAND TIMES OVER!

Ps: This line is used in the movie/book “The Kite Runner”. I just can’t get over the book….I can’t say enough how much I loved it….and I thought it was a beautiful line and am glad I found an appropriate usage for it in my life!!!

Nothing's Permanent but Change !!!

When I think of the sudden changes happening in Life, the rude surprises..or shld i be saying Rude shocks..I , actually We(Vinod n I) seem to be getting in Life...I can't help but stress out n crib. Other than our Wedding , we have not been able to plan anything since 2006. Its been "Accept What you Get" for a long long time now. It gets super confusin n frustratin when u can't be sure of wat's going to happen or wher ur gonna be in the next 2 weeks...after every 3 - 6 months..Though I must admit, most of the things have eventually turned out to be good. I don belive in Regrettin anything..absolutely anything in Life ! I strongly feel there is a reason and Mind You, a positive Reason for Everything that happens. The key is to be patient n not lose faith n let God do his Job

:

Everything happened as planned ....n we did move into our new apartment n its beautiful n the process of setting it up was fun n tirin..BUT...

Vinod's office gave us a new story...they want him working out of office, in Vermont for 2 weeks for the 1st few months.(Earlier they had said 1 week). Vinod jus left today...abt 2 hrs back...n I'm missin him sooooooooooooooo badly!!! Hope the next 12 days fly....

The Pursuit of My Happyness :-)

Hmm..this title is special for a couple of reasons...
1) Firstly it was Vinod's n My 1st movie ‘alone’ 'together'...the ones before this were with a bunch of frends...
2) It was my 1st movie in the US of A..
3) I looooooooov Will Smith
4) His kid is a Daaaaaaaaaaaarlin..awww..so cute!
5) Its an amazin story...a must-watch..we njoyed the movie a lot
6) n Finally i like the way 'happyness' is spelt!

I'm at that point of my Life again..when i'm all excited n eager...Vinod n I are moving our base to Baltimore on July 29th(less than a week away)..we finally are gonna have 'OUR HOME' (Rented of course!)
We are finally settlin down..atleast for a while…

Therz no more gonna be weekly travels n that feels sooooooo good…U have no idea how good ,unless u’ve been in these shoes. Believe me! This implies..no more endless waiting hours in various airports, no more wakin up in the wee hours of the morning on Mondays, n no more reaching at obscene hours on Thursday nites…n for Vinod..No more cookin!

And the more exciting part is settin up our home..I’ve never done that before..never stayed at a place permanently, so we could set it up the way we wanted. Hyd was for 3 mths..n Vermont..was a studio aptment wher most things were provided n the rest, we din really want to buy ‘coz we din know for how long we were gonna be there.We knew we would be Shifting sumtime. Of course before that I was livin with ma-pa…n settin up that home is a completely different thing…’coz I wasn’t ther to start from scratch n I wasn’t contributin financially.
Now we have to shop for EVERYTHIN..rite from the Crockery to mattress to television to all the furnishins…and Shoppin for anything is fun n xcitin ..not jus clothes n shoes ;-) Tho of crse..it creates holes in the pockets!!

The place looks really nice with hi-fi security n all..u can see the pic,one of those houses is ours!! It has a mall with Macys n JC Penny less then .3 miles away..so yayyyyyyeeee.. N well..it has a gym n a pool…..I’m gonna try work out…n I donno swimming:-(

Its exciting to have a new bunch of neighbours..My Mangaer in India is also movin in about a mile away from my place..so that’s nice..I’ll have company before we can make new friends.I’ve heard there are a decent no. of Indians in the apartment.

Also my friends at work tell me..there are plenty of places to visit n hazar things to do in Baltimore/Virginia/DC..so lookin forward to all that. Another advantage about bein in Baltimore is, its at a central point..DC,Virginia,Delaware are all soo close and NYC,NJ are jus abt 3 hrs or lesser away..So thts reallie niceee..will get to see many more places.!

I’m sure I’ll miss sumthings we used to do up in Vermont, like the innumerable hike trails less than a mile away from home, the Ben n Jerry ice-cream, Main Street, The Jewellery shop on Main Street, Burlington, drives to the countless lakes n other scenic places less than 2 hrs away from Vermont, Our landlord Rose n her funny tantrums n of crse the safety around the place (We hear Baltimore is not xactly known for safety!)

The first time a significant change was happenin in my life is in the year 2000…when I was to join college after 14 yrs of school and when I had to change my residence..after the same no. of yrs…I remember..i was so depressed..not wantin to let go of the beautiful moments n memories I had…But since then…things have been only getting better n plenty of things have changed.
Specially with all that’s been happenin over the last 1 year..I realize..changes no more scare me..they jus make me look forward to new things..

Hopin for a new load of gr8 moments…

Smiles
Pavi:-)

Trip to Niagara & Pittsburg
( 23-25 Dec ’06)

I had landed the previous Sunday evening and we planned to travel to Niagara falls the Christmas weekend. ‘Twas my first weekend in the US. Nu too had gone to Niagara his 1st weekend in the US about 2.5 yrs back.

I was jus abt trying to get used to the chillin winters. But was definitely excited abt the trip..coz I would see the famous Niagara falls and It wld be my 1st long drive with my hubby. Sumthing I had been longing for. (Don ask me why!)

Come Saturday(23rd) , we set out early morning. The mountains around Vermont were white covered by snow. The long drive made me ‘oh..so nostalgic’ abt home ‘coz I was very used to these long drives to various places in Dads car with family. This was a 8 hr drive n we finally reached the Days Inn resort arnd 5 pm. In the winters, it starts getting dark as early as 4 pm. We freshened up and then as the falls was v.close to the hotel we decided to walk it up. So taking our winter gear (gloves, jackets,mufflers etc) we set out. We walked for obout 2 mins n the cold begun to sink in. The wind was so strong and the roads were empty…we were swayin n walking!. But not wanting to return we continued..the falls did look pretty, we took a long walk..the nite sky was amazing..but well..I think we almost froze ! There was unstoppable water drippin frm our noses (yuck!) cld see the revolvin restaurant on the opp side i.e Ontario, Canada,

The Canada-US border is a thin white line (like a zebra corssin) drawn on the road.But u need a passport n visa to cross that line:(

We went to a casino after that..my 1st experience in a Casino.. Was fun..lost some money though! N ya..i also lost Vinod's gloves. Now this is sumthing u ‘ll read as a regular feature in all my stories..I end up losin sumthign in every trip I make :

Next morning we went to the Balaji temple at Pittsburg. A 4 hr drive. Believe me the food (Prasad) available in temples is jus amazing..its sooooooooooo yummy ! n u will stop thinking “Wat a cheapo..” once u taste it. We wanted to pack some boxes for dinner too but din have cash ( thnx to the xtensive usage of credit cards at all places!). But the temple didn’t accept card so we drove abt a mile and got cash to buy food. N then drove back to Niagara.

The next morning we went to the falls agn..roamed arnd a bit, clicked pics (vinods fav thing to do) n then drove back home.

Was a fun trip…wit perfect no. of days to do the stuff we had planned to do without tiring ourselves too much.

Waitin to visit Niagara in summer ‘coz all the rides n stuff was closed durin winter! N long drives have bcom pretty much one of our fav things to do.

Pics at : http://picasaweb.google.com/vinodindia/NiagaraVisit
http://picasaweb.google.com/vinodindia/Pittsburgh