Food, Family and more !!

Sundays were and are pretty special to me. The one day I tend to spend my time mostly at home with my family. Everyone seem to be busy in their own world the rest of the week. But Sunday is our day, family day!! My sis and I usually woke up late on Sunday mornings. By the time we brush our teeth, mom would have prepared hot coffee for my sis and Masala tea for me. Mom's tea and the Hindu's Sunday Magazine. The perfect combination to start my Sunday with. And then there would be Mahabarath playing in DD and Arattai Arangam in Sun TV and a list of other TV programs following. My sis and I would be glued to the TV. By this time dad would have finished his morning walk(a couple of hours before, though) and read the Hindu from the frontpage to the sports column word by word. And mom would be ready with breakfast. Mostly it will be steaming hot Ven pongal, Vada and Sambar or poori masal. These two were the favorite Sunday breakfasts at my home. And the aroma of food would fill the house. And dad would rush to have a quick shower. And he would come back and try to make us have a shower too before we all had our breakfast. But his super lazy daughters wouldnt budge. He will finally give up shouting at us too. And then it was breakfast time. I love Sunday breakfasts. The only day when the whole family has breakfast (and the rest of the meals mostly) together. We'll all have some stories to share and it usually ends up in some fun filled conversations.

Last weekend I suddenly missed being home. Especially the Sundays. Mom's tea, the Sunday magazine, the TV shows, family breakfast, and definitely the conversations!!  But I thought I could still make it work, try to relive those moments again. So I rushed to the kitchen and prepared Ven pongal and Sambar for breakfast. (Which will otherwise be pancake, toast or some sandwich) And sat down with hubby dear, my now family, and enjoyed the Sunday breakfast that I missed while telling him the whole story behind the breakfast that he was having. And then he in turn shared his memories about his Sundays with family and friends. And that was a perfect breakfast with some lovely conversations. 

So I finally had my Sunday memories back and I'm sure to create some more!!
After all, life is what you create. 

Do you guys miss such things?

What was the best family time of your childhood?

Share your stories. I'm listening :)

Image Courtesy: Internet

Calm after the storm!!

After the storm!!

We had a snow storm the day before yesterday. It started to snow lightly around 4 PM and became heavier as the day closed to the night. There were weather alerts everywhere and people were advised to be back home as soon as possible. B, my husband, called me around 4.30 PM to let me know that is he is leaving office. I was more than happy to know that the man will be home within 40 mins and thought we both could spend this beautiful white evening together. I wanted us to have a nice hot cup of tea and sit by the balcony windows and snow-gaze the whole evening. So I waited and waited and waited for the him to be back. It became 6 PM. And I waited for some more time. It was 7.30. I could wait no more and dialed his number. It went straight to the voice mail box. Probably his battery was dead. He had left his charger safely home. So I had to wait till he came back. The evening was already turning dark and was leaving way for night to settle in. And the snowfall became intense and the parking lot had already accumulated 3 inches of snow. The clock ticked 9. And B is still not back and that dint seem good to me. I couldn't reach him and it was around 5 hours since I last heard from him. I started to panic and called Archana to know if she is back home at least. She was on the roads for the past 6 hours and not even half-way through. Looked like the whole Northern Virginia working crowd started to head back home from their workplaces at the same time, which caused a huge traffic block in every highway possible. She told me the traffic was terrible. There were cars skidding in the snow glazed roads, accidents every 2 miles, some ran out of fuels and pulled over to the shoulder lanes, and she herself almost bumped twice into the car in front of her. Its seriously crazy to drive in snow. So it seemed like B was also held up in traffic. I cursed the mobile battery so much for dying out when we needed to converse badly. And I was prepared for B to get his share for leaving the charger at home. And then I made dinner and was catching up on some tv shows. It was 11.00 PM and I heard something that sounded like a thunder. I saw a bright blue-green light for a second and boooooommmmm. There was a power cut. So then I realized that we are actually facing the storm. And I looked out of my window and the snow was still pouring down heavily. Archana was still driving and B was definitely going to take more time to get back home. So I decided to hit bed. I heard someone banging my front door. And I checked my mobile and it was 12.47 AM. And opened the door to see poor B all tired and hungry. The man had been driving for more than 8 hours, for a drive which usually takes max 40 mins. We could have actually had a drive to New York and returned back by this time, on a normal day. Whatever it is, I was happy that he returned home safely.

The Snowman we made!!

The snow storm actually left us 'power'less for the next whole day. No power, no internet, and of course no work. All the mobile batteries died off. And tell you what that was definitely a day with no disturbances or distractions whatsoever in any form. And that was good. We went down to enjoy the power outage. Had a good time throwing snow at each other, running around and falling down. Archana and I made this snowman. He is cute, ain't he?

I see these lovely white snow flakes pouring down the sky as I write this post. I just cannot keep my eyes off the window. Such a pretty scene it is. It feels so magical and it always reminds me of fairy tales when I see a snowfall. It is never too boring to see a snow fall right outside your window, even if it is after a huge snow storm which kept you waiting for your loved one to be back!!!

The Wrong Turn

Last week, thursday to be precise, I was getting ready for my Yoga class and was waiting for Archana (my friend & neighbor) to call me. We usually go together. She was a little late from work that day and it was already 7.25 PM by the time we started. Our class commences at 7.30 and it usually takes us 12 to 15 mins to reach the fitness club. I got a little worried that we were late for the class and started to drive in that mindset. And this made me miss the right turn that I had to take to the club. So I continued to drive and took the next right assuming this will join the road to the club. And Archana was already panicking as we entered that road and that got me to panic too. Let me tell you why. The road that we were driving on was in the middle of a huge graveyard. Turn anywhere and all we could see were graves and headstones. And the place was so dark and dull. Their were no streetlights and we couldn't spot a single living being on that road. Some graves had blinking LED lights on them and that was super creepy. So we took another turn from that road hoping to get off that place as quickly as possible, but in vain. We came back to the same road and that was more scary. And Archana started to blabber more in fear. She even said, 'Should we turn back and see if someone's there in the backseat?'. Guess what, I actually checked my rear view mirror, (by this time we joined back to the main road) and the lights from cars behind created an illusion as if someone just vanished off the back seat. Baahhhhh. That was one helluva ride and we were so relieved when we got rid of the spooky graves. And then we finally made it to the yoga class by 7.45. Missed our warm ups by then. But still, it was totally worth it. Archana and I badly needed this session to calm ourselves down!! :)

That was a freaky Friday.. uhhmmm.. I mean Thursday !! :)

So...Have you guys taken any wrong turns?? Scary drives?? Got lost in the middle of nowhere?? Share your story.

Image Courtesy: pressplayphotography

Meeting V...

Its been a while since I caught up with my friends from college. So we decided to meet this weekend for lunch and then a movie. As usual it was so much fun and loads of catch-up stories to hear from everyone. It was definitely a good break for all of us from our hectic work life. And we were happy that we finally made this happen. So much for a get-together, I can hear you say. Definitely. Nobody has time to even run their own life, so its definitely a big deal to fix a common time and venue. Some of us had to even travel from other states. But it was all worth it. So after lunch we headed to Satyam Cinemas.(For my non-chennai, non-Indian readers, Satyam Cinemas is the best cinema theatre in Chennai, the city I grew up back in India).

So after spending almost a day together, we all kissed good bye to each other and parted in our own ways and I walked down the street to the nearby bus stop.

As I was walking I saw someone waving at me with a nice bright smile. And I quickly recognized the face and waved back immediately. That was V, my old school friend. Its been ages since I met her. We've been in touch through Facebook and chat. But that's it. Dint meet her even once after we finished high school. So it was nice to see her in after all these years.  She was still the same V whom I remembered from school. No big change. She was as beautiful and glowing as ever. Nobody can tell that she was married. I learnt from FB that she was back into modelling again and saw her pictures from couple of her shows. She looked like a pro. 'Hey look that's my old school friend', I used to proudly tell my husband. 

Coming back to V. Both of us were equally surprised and had a quick chat about our whereabouts and she offered to drop me back home. So we went back to her car in a parking lot nearby where her dad and sister were waiting for her. V's little sis has grown up to be a very charming young girl and it was good to see her too. V was staying in her parents' place as her husband was on a business trip, I came to know. 

And we continued our chat after getting into the car. 'V, I recently saw your fashion show pictures on FB and you looked super hot and stunning. Good that you are back modelling', I told her. Her father gave me a very suspicious look and turned to V and asked her angrily, 'Whats going on V. What is it that I am hearing?'. V's sister already had her hands on her forehead after hearing what I said and V was having this 'God save me' look. Then V's sister whispered to me that their dad still dint that she was into modelling again. And then I remembered that V initially quit modelling coz her dad dint like her doing it. But now after her marriage, with her husband's consent she started modelling again. I was totally sorry for what I just uttered and V gave me this 'I'll handle him' look. Then she told him something in her mother tongue and he calmed down. There was total silence in the car for ten more minutes and there came my house and I was more than happy to jump out of the car. V came out with me and I apologized for what I did. But V thanked me, coz she anyways wanted to tell this to her dad. I was relieved now. Then I asked her what she told to convince him. 

Before she began to reply, I heard someone opening the door.

My house door???

No.

That was my bedroom door here in the US. My husband was getting ready for work and had just flung it open to rush to the bathroom.

The House hunt !!!

Ufff... The whole week was quiet hectic for me. Ask me why. We received a mail from our apartment management reminding us that our apartment lease is ending in a couple of months and we had to decide on either extending the lease or vacating the apartment. And that if we choose to vacate we'll have to give them a 60 day notice so that they'll start advertising for the apartment and other stuff. And it looked like our rents are increased if we choose to extend. And we had only four days left before we finally decide on this. So we thought we'll look for options outside. And the house hunting job fell on me. So the first thing I do, after packing B (my hubby) to work, is to log into all the apartment rental sites and start my search. I had to keep in mind the rent, the reviews about the community, the amenities that are available, easy access to all transits, this, that, foo, faa.... And finally listed down some apartments that we thought will be comfortable for us. And I started taking apartment tours on each of them. Some days I had to check out more that three apartments, come back home note down the things like rent, available facilities, hidden charges etc., in an excel sheet and discuss it with B at the end of the day. After all this, we somehow weren't satisfied with the apartments that I checked. And the D-Day came. Today we had to tell the management about our decision. It was definitely tough to move out of an apartment that we enjoyed staying so long. We had everything we needed. It was a wonderful community. We had nothing to complain about so far. Right from library to grocery to shopping malls, everything is at walkable distance. Moreover I had developed an intimate bond with my desi neighbor. And so we finally decided to extend the lease in our same apartment, even though we had to compromise on the hiked rent. So I went down to the leasing office to tell our decision. Before that we wanted to ask if there are any other apartments that is currently vacant for us to move in. And it so happened that, there was one vacant on the same building but a few floor high above. And the best part is, it comes with more space and less rent. Hoz that :) I was like yaayyyyy !!! And yes, we obviously opted to move into that apartment. After all this house hunting we ended up moving into an apartment in the very same building. But I totally have nothing to regret. This whole house search was a new experience for me and definitely worth it. I got to know what exactly property mangers do every other day and understood the whole rent manipulation that is being done when an apartment is vacant. Baaahhhh. Whatever, we finally found a house and we definitely like it :)

A Desi Neighbor Atlast !!

The day was dull and moody, with the sun almost deeply buried under the fast moving clouds. I was just lazying around for almost the whole day. As I was wandering in the house, pile of clothes lying in the laundry bag caught my attention. I was happy that I finally found something to do. I took the bag and went to the laundry room. As I was unloading the clothes into the washer, someone entered the room. I turned to look who it was and there was standing a lady with her cute little son. She wore a bright smile on her face and introduced herself and her son. We exchanged our history and geography. She's from Kerala, one of my favorite places, and seems quiet easy to move with. I was so happy that I finally found someone to talk to. She seemed more than happy to have met me, coz she has been here for more than a year without any friends. All she knew here was her husband and her two kids with some occasional visits from her husband's office colleagues, may be. Thats Sad. Pretty Sad. But never late. Here we are for each other. Its not even one whole day since we met. We already had lunch together, went to the gym together, went to drop her kid in school, went to the library together and had a long chat over a cup of coffee. Now doesn't that seem like a wonderful bond ?? It is, at least to me. Like I mentioned in my previous post, I finally started to come out of my cocoon and mingle with people. Good going. 

Here's to me and my lovely neighbor.
Cheers !!! :)

Rendevous with Terry !!!

Now that winter is almost done with its job, I am obsessed to get out on my own and explore. As a first step, I planned to visit my college senior, Terry, who lives in Alexandria, which is like 15 mins from my place. So I called up Terry and noted down her address. Then looked up on the net for the Metro bus time schedule and headed to the bus stop, which is right in front of my apartment, and voila, there was the bus, just on time as scheduled for the stop. I was amazed at the punctuality of these city buses. Back in India, I sometimes used to wait hours together for buses. I really dont know if we even had a site to check out the bus schedules. All we could do is to go to the bus stop or bus stand and check with the information booth there. But later, I started calling JustDial and ask them for the bus depot's telephone number and check for the bus schedule. How I wish we had a well updated website to look up for any bus' schedule and how I wish they were on time at every stop. Hmm... 


Coming back to my story. My bus came exactly as mentioned in the time schedule and I hopped on happily. I spotted a little coin machine just next to the driver and asked him for the fare. He said it was 1.45 USD. So I took out a 2 dollar bill and inserted in that machine's mouth and was waiting for it to give me back my balance 55 cents. I waited for a couple of minutes and inquired the driver about it. He coolly replied it wont give me back my change and that I had to insert the exact amount. I "Aahh"ed to myself and thought I learnt something and headed to a seat as close to the stop strings as possible. So after around 10 to 12 mins my stop arrived and there was Terry waiting for me in the bus stop. 


Aahhh... It was so good to see her after such a long time. The last time I saw her was in my college hostel four years back. I remembered her as this short-thin-bespectacled senior with cropped hair who is always spotted with a couple of books. But now, look at her. Gained some weight, well grown hair, and for the first time in my life I saw her without her books. But she is still sweet :). We exchanged hugs and the usual "How are you?", "How is life?" pleasantries and started talking which went on for hours together. We had four long years of stories to be exchanged. A couple of hours are definitely not enough. So we've decided to meet again and this time in my place. Waiting to meet her soon to continue our chat. Of course we both have phones, but nothing like meeting in person. Right ??

So finally...

So its become three months since I moved to the US after marriage. I thought moving to a new country, getting used to a new culture and taking a break from work for sometime (Yes I quit my job to relocate. But this is only for sometime. Will be back in action soon :) or so, hopefully) will be a good change. Yes, it is good in its own ways, but I'm missing something somewhere. Connecting with people. Yes, I miss talking to people, interacting with them on a daily basis. Winter played a major spoil sport for me in this aspect. But this is not going to continue. The climate is getting better day by day and Mr.Winter is all set to leave way for the beautiful lady Miss.Spring. 

Yesterday, the major part of the day was sunny. I wanted to feel the warmth of the sun and so stepped out to the balcony of my fourth floor apartment. And it was a lovely sight. Mommies bringing their little ones back from school, couple of boys were skating in the parking area, an elderly lady (should be in her sixties) who had just finished her grocery shopping was unloading her things to a trolley, a lady was taking her baby for a little walk in the park, a teenage girl wearing a mini-skirt (yeah, a good sign of winter end :D) was going out with her mom somewhere. And finally I noticed the that the remaining snow on the street ends were melting down erasing all signs of winter :)

So where am I getting to. Ahh...Yes. So this means I can go to the park from now on, may be with my book, and start interacting with people who are finally showing their existence. Its always nice to meet and know new people. And I'm looking forward to connecting to the jantha in my building. Will update more on this soon.

Have a great day all of You !!!