tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-83465908048408141932024-03-13T13:13:33.250-04:00Fizz-KidzLet's Get By With A Little Help From Other Parentsfizz-kidzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15976877380579034884noreply@blogger.comBlogger44125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8346590804840814193.post-30299734254763100872011-04-20T16:32:00.003-04:002011-04-20T16:35:46.107-04:00Technology And Its Impact On Children<span style="font-family:verdana;"><em>This was sent to me by my father, based on his experiences in dealing with my nephews and observing other kids where he lives in India. Enjoy - Sri</em></span>
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<br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">I am amazed at the way children are able to make use of the technological inventions which have sprouted in the last few years. Gone are the days when they were satisfied with simple electronic toys or cartoons like Tom and Jerry or Donald Duck.
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<br />What fascinates children, are the new game platforms which are proliferating. The makers of these games are targeting kids right from the primary stage in education. Usually the profile of the children is that they belong to families where both parents are well employed. So money is no constraint and they are able to buy the latest offerings frequently even if they cost a few thousands of Rupees.
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<br />We feel happy when we see the ease with which the kids are able to understand and play these games. What is disturbing is that the children become obsessed with these games and sit glued to the computers for hours together. They neither see nor hear other things. They stop only under parental compulsion. Even when they are not playing, their mind is possessed by these games and they compare notes with their friends who, like them, are addicted to the past time.
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<br />The other possible fall-outs from this could be;
<br />a) They may not find time for their studies
<br />b) Reading books will become out of fashion
<br />c) They will have very little time for interacting with other family members.
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<br />Tackling this problem is not going to be easy. If one tries to ban these games from the house, it will cause resentment. The children will feel that their peers will look down upon them.
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<br />The first step that can be taken is to talk to them and convince them to reduce the time they spend on this activity to, say, 1 hour per day. Other steps that can be thought of are to encourage and persuade them to widen their interest. They can be advised to take up swimming, playing games involving physical activities like football, basketball etc. They can also be guided to take up some branch of music.
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<br />The idea behind all this is to develop a package of activities for them, so that they will have no time or inclination to over indulge in any of these games. Their life will become sort of balance.</span>
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<br /><p><span style="font-family:verdana;">K. Sivaramakrishnan</span></p>
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<br />fizz-kidzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15976877380579034884noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8346590804840814193.post-76779116839462724412011-04-04T22:42:00.004-04:002011-04-04T23:06:44.467-04:00India 2011 – Scribbles<span class="Apple-style-span">I feel invigorated. We just came back a week ago from visiting family in India. Although I spent two weeks over there, it wasn’t enough at all. But I made the most of it.<br /><br />After an unpredictable flight into Bombay by Air India (with Air India, it is mostly unpredictable), I was greeted by my daughter running towards me and jumping on me at the airport. What a welcome!<br /><br />Most of my family, and my wife and her family had come to the airport to receive me. Another welcome was the warm weather after the never-ending cold weather in NYC.<br /><br /><b>Choo Choo Train</b><br />Tvisha had wanted to experience a long distance train ride, and we decided to travel to Pune by train, and spend a couple of days there.<br /><br />We reached Victoria Terminus, the starting point for the train. After negotiating the opportunistic porters, security, navigating around hoards of people sitting on the floor or standing or looking for their trains like we were, around cartons and many other obstacles, we finally reached the platform where our train Udyan Express was stationed.<br /><br />We had to walk past almost 14 cars till we got to our car. Anita almost quit on Tvisha and me, after walking past the dirt and grime on the platform, and the obnoxious smell from the railway tracks. I kept saying to her, it would get better ☺.<br /><br />There was some improvement, although the train car was like 100 years old and looked like it had seen better times.<br /><br />The train ride to Pune was a fantastic experience, as it brought back so many memories of the countless long distance trips I have made by train with my family – the constant hustle and bustle of people and vendors in and out the train in the platform, people selling all kinds of things and the best part, the fellow passengers! One gets to meet some really nice people on these train rides, usually.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlV-Q5CA8_A1PtrTSAnc7m5Va4xKwBI5GClNSjNc0xTjKFNGvk7BDG-vt9LodoPWXj_QyyK4QiRyKULOHeffElxJlYXQWw5HAIh4dJ_Y3-z53_L4RM3V_dShVrkCLNNcOJYc6ayDt_X6o/s1600/tvimom.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlV-Q5CA8_A1PtrTSAnc7m5Va4xKwBI5GClNSjNc0xTjKFNGvk7BDG-vt9LodoPWXj_QyyK4QiRyKULOHeffElxJlYXQWw5HAIh4dJ_Y3-z53_L4RM3V_dShVrkCLNNcOJYc6ayDt_X6o/s400/tvimom.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5591924840156575666" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i>Wife and daughter</i></div><div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLAXs8PQn56sBWeoT6WTaQrhtmgZzWLl37szclWt-y2edmMEwzK4i-DpNvyKFtYEG9xV97DDDckU1E4g0HF7QJwUqoDbEAqczBLqiywHiLvC-OHU5MDN_GIRiPM9Lk9k8Fb06qhEVnQ9Q/s1600/mrmrs.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLAXs8PQn56sBWeoT6WTaQrhtmgZzWLl37szclWt-y2edmMEwzK4i-DpNvyKFtYEG9xV97DDDckU1E4g0HF7QJwUqoDbEAqczBLqiywHiLvC-OHU5MDN_GIRiPM9Lk9k8Fb06qhEVnQ9Q/s400/mrmrs.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5591924835286048130" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i>Posing in the train - Wife and I (I could do better :-))</i></div><div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1bZCyRRJJ7c2nVV6aHfpCgzN6qRqddNBs0EFq03xztCDtrg1z69ADc8-9Ai3RguXyre00Sq6NvGoX5fZcHIKeFzS3iMDPZ11Xbrx1WSePFTF-q29DmxGNqkVQqxNNkfrKMXpYDjggMzY/s1600/TC.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1bZCyRRJJ7c2nVV6aHfpCgzN6qRqddNBs0EFq03xztCDtrg1z69ADc8-9Ai3RguXyre00Sq6NvGoX5fZcHIKeFzS3iMDPZ11Xbrx1WSePFTF-q29DmxGNqkVQqxNNkfrKMXpYDjggMzY/s400/TC.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5591924835144834290" /></a><br /><br /><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><i>The conductor was nice enough to pose for us :-)</i></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">We met a nice person by the name of Satish Kusurkar on his way to Pune on an official trip, with whom we got talking and built a good rapport with him. He was gracious enough to narrate a story to Tvisha about an elephant and wolves, which she thoroughly enjoyed. Satish, it was really nice to get to know you. Thanks ☺<br /><br />The travel to Pune was around 3 hours 45 minutes. We slept a lot while in Pune, met my vocal lessons teacher who I had only met virtually, did some shopping, and went to the famous Dagdu Sheth Ganesh temple. We dined at what I thought would be a great restaurant serving traditional Maharashtrian food, which turned out to be horrible. We also spent precious time with one of my close friends and his family.<br /><br />Finally it was time to head back to Bombay. The train ride back sucked. It was a chair car, with all seats facing in one direction, and was pretty cramped and very crowded unlike the ride in, which was wonderful.<br /><br /><b>Resort</b><br />A couple of days later my entire family, wife and kid, and my father in law headed to Manas resort in Igatpuri near Nasik with the promise of a good time. Nasik is a city a few hours away from Bombay and is famous for its grapes and vineries that have come up there.<br /><br />Although it was hot (110-115 degrees F) the drive was wonderful. We had to drive through the ghat section and the roads were well laid out. The resort was just around 60 miles away.<br /><br />We got there around late afternoon. We had rented a villa with a common gathering room and 3 bedrooms. It was a very relaxing time spent together with family. I got to play badminton after years, and carrom as well. My brother and I sang a bunch of Hindi songs and some of the great Beatles melodies late into the night, and everyone else had a great time listening to us and joining when they could.<br /><br />The resort also had a swimming pool where may daughter and her cousins had loads of fun, spa services where I enjoyed a good massage, there was coloring for the kids, a library, and one could also learn how to make small oil lamps out of mud. I loved that, and I think I didn’t too badly, it being the first time ☺.<br /><br />I also met the chef there at the local restaurant, after I really liked a few of the dishes he had produced. I got the recipes for the same, and will be posting them after some modifications in my other blog, www.bigsrisfood.com.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8szovh1Dd6Xi7vQoBHro-dZhgyr8kFeKWRmWM1QNAXgSszO84jn4VQXwvm6JULqDPxM0j23OD891Tv8DQh9q5OJyuxc3pVox3znc7xINTyY4cJSjZ_Rd5-GZ2FFkyZQ_zUASrw4QfP-c/s1600/Pool.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8szovh1Dd6Xi7vQoBHro-dZhgyr8kFeKWRmWM1QNAXgSszO84jn4VQXwvm6JULqDPxM0j23OD891Tv8DQh9q5OJyuxc3pVox3znc7xINTyY4cJSjZ_Rd5-GZ2FFkyZQ_zUASrw4QfP-c/s400/Pool.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5591924830564839362" /></a><br /><br /><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><i>The kids loving the pool with other kids in the resort</i></div><div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5F1LjZp5v365MkpRrAS3MRB09N0wQ0HfFMhLoPoSAF65sa5SHBc5OoCnZW2dJ7aF9FChoDY-QN5H_3cyBNNEV4ia-L7nBW4X71HyFY5yUa_kzVEpUcd5Z2EZtnJ_oXQ8pzp8ZCy5BiZE/s1600/Jamming.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5F1LjZp5v365MkpRrAS3MRB09N0wQ0HfFMhLoPoSAF65sa5SHBc5OoCnZW2dJ7aF9FChoDY-QN5H_3cyBNNEV4ia-L7nBW4X71HyFY5yUa_kzVEpUcd5Z2EZtnJ_oXQ8pzp8ZCy5BiZE/s400/Jamming.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5591924828831399858" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i>My brother warming up</i></div><div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYuAkxKDuYY2f11FgplHEYlM6RTj8NI-GizH5PcHVc578T8Ppp9op225F2fn_UEuND7w_j6d0wbpdlgcKHHrCGpW53DKFshXRyvhm4dCp3dhC_0X3RYpFJadGmBu8jXZIWsbcN-suIPh8/s1600/Hang+out.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYuAkxKDuYY2f11FgplHEYlM6RTj8NI-GizH5PcHVc578T8Ppp9op225F2fn_UEuND7w_j6d0wbpdlgcKHHrCGpW53DKFshXRyvhm4dCp3dhC_0X3RYpFJadGmBu8jXZIWsbcN-suIPh8/s400/Hang+out.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5591924541691852866" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><i>Hanging out with family and early morning coffee</i></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGc-6k800WP86z3FqeQvVvrbY991c_YazQzM7vXyJG3nm5Ux83msvWf3HmyZvPbFinJyoar7Ytm8dhN-aHLAo6C9fHMZDBVacyCzKsbd04tjkVVbccen0vAp60knXNvzoHWHE6abi-0bM/s1600/Anita+Lamp.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGc-6k800WP86z3FqeQvVvrbY991c_YazQzM7vXyJG3nm5Ux83msvWf3HmyZvPbFinJyoar7Ytm8dhN-aHLAo6C9fHMZDBVacyCzKsbd04tjkVVbccen0vAp60knXNvzoHWHE6abi-0bM/s400/Anita+Lamp.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5591924542411695794" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i>Wife trying her hand in making an oil lamp :-)</i></div><div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhurTbxeS1ZQaeQUQ8P7reKpVHGBDB3o5z9xei95Zg3aBrll21xuG9AKLFiVCODiLn1sJOE4Jk8LgaADoRwX6kj7XfBL-0Os-85z2D4Kfe6MPRuPKjjTvg-PbbBO4ykYt1ix_YUQEIQ1SU/s1600/Oil+Lamp1.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhurTbxeS1ZQaeQUQ8P7reKpVHGBDB3o5z9xei95Zg3aBrll21xuG9AKLFiVCODiLn1sJOE4Jk8LgaADoRwX6kj7XfBL-0Os-85z2D4Kfe6MPRuPKjjTvg-PbbBO4ykYt1ix_YUQEIQ1SU/s400/Oil+Lamp1.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5591924536747950050" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><i>She was jealous of my finished product ;-) just kidding!</i></div><div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjubxhDdbhphCLhNRidcf15IjI1rGwflyn1Hsx8o-YtN7R6WKeglyRHRic5zN6fTYraEv86RQK-30eLLz1UBY6fXUPRNOu9qlezUVyUq6dayLdqN1sxYL76Eb4M4nZ7Qrmq3js_KxPHjM/s1600/Holi+Fire.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjubxhDdbhphCLhNRidcf15IjI1rGwflyn1Hsx8o-YtN7R6WKeglyRHRic5zN6fTYraEv86RQK-30eLLz1UBY6fXUPRNOu9qlezUVyUq6dayLdqN1sxYL76Eb4M4nZ7Qrmq3js_KxPHjM/s400/Holi+Fire.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5591924538002759298" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><i>Holi Fire</i></div><div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgO7CtenJxSMQU-05XCti3tyqTKKHQA5AnVJd0XHkt3ytM-6ft14mrImLiuav0odOCM4vlxRrwonn90aICGidrVHV_38rvQAFzxrA35n_GlXBLQOYrROuQwHFzfz238eo88w3H1dgdVhD8/s1600/Scenic.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgO7CtenJxSMQU-05XCti3tyqTKKHQA5AnVJd0XHkt3ytM-6ft14mrImLiuav0odOCM4vlxRrwonn90aICGidrVHV_38rvQAFzxrA35n_GlXBLQOYrROuQwHFzfz238eo88w3H1dgdVhD8/s400/Scenic.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5591924532661747106" /></a><br /></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><i>On the way back - liked this formation</i></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">On the way back we took a detour and went to a small town called Titwaala, famous for its Ganesh temple. I hadn’t been to that temple in around 15 years or so. We got back home late in the evening.<br /><br /><b>Errands and meeting friends</b><br />While in India, I could only meet a few of my friends since the time was short, we were traveling quite a bit, and it was very hectic. I did manage to call some of them and regret having not called/met the others I wanted to.<br /><br />I took my wife to a few of my favorite eating places to eat pani puri, dahi puri, samosa, bhel, vada pav and sev puri. Only a couple of joints have remained the same in terms of taste, and the rest of them have slid down the rating scale.<br /><br />Most of the last week we were there was spent with 3 Indian banks trying to get our things in order. It is mind boggling, the process that one needs to go through to get things done. I suppose it is necessary given the safety measures the banks have, but even then, if one is not patient or does not take notes or pay attention, then God save you! One could start a blog to assist people who want help when they are banking in India ☺. The one good thing was that the people who worked in the bank were extremely helpful.<br /><br />Compared to last year, Tvisha did well health wise this time. We kind of won the battle against the mosquitoes. When you travel to India, never leave home without a can of 'Off' the mosquito repellent as a companion, or else you will really be turned off by the mosquitoes!<br /><br />She developed heat boils though all over her face, hands and legs and was in real trouble, scratching herself all the time to the extent that she wouldn’t be able to sleep. The answer to this, thanks to our friend, was Neem leaves. Pluck them off the tree, soak them in water overnight, and then add hot water and bathe in that. As simple as that. A couple of days and all the heat boils disappeared. I didn’t know that neem is a tremendous anti oxidant and has great healing powers.<br /><br /><b>Bombay!</b><br />My birthplace and hometown! Every time I visit, it never ceases to amaze me. Now I see taller and taller buildings being built every time I go there, the real estate prices soaring through the roof, the gap between the rich and poor getting wider and wider, all kinds of new cars being introduced with the latest of all the cars plying on the road.<br /><br />It is beginning to look like the West in terms of the materialistic things. But the one thing that hasn’t yet changed at a certain level is the people and their niceness. That can’t be substituted by anything, and keeps me wanting to go back there again and again, and each time I keep entertaining the thought of moving back there.<br /><br />I did a lot of eating out, trying out my favorite joints, bought a lot of music back and got to spend a decent time with my family, although I wish I could have done more of that.<br /><br />Anita, Tvisha and I really enjoyed our stay there this time, especially not having to worry about Tvisha and her health.<br /><br /><b>Damn it!</b><br />All good things do come to and end. From a 110 + degree F weather, landing at JFK to a 30 degree F weather was a rude awakener, making me think why the hell did I even come back ☺.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">By the way, India won the cricket world cup after 28 long years!!!!! Way to go!!!!!</span><br /></div>fizz-kidzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15976877380579034884noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8346590804840814193.post-90687935438148560522011-02-03T22:31:00.004-05:002011-02-04T08:46:08.522-05:00America – The Land of the Free and Home of the Brave<span class="Apple-style-span">This essay was written by my friends Balaji and Priya's son Yash. I wanted to share this with you as it is so beautifully written. Yash was 11 years old when he wrote this. </span><div><span class="Apple-style-span">
<br /></span></div><div><meta charset="utf-8"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span>The topic for the contest was "America: The Land of the Free and Home of the Brave". This was the winning entry.....1st place Chapter, 1st place State, 1st place Eastern Division (Washington D.C., MD,NJ,DE, PA,MA,VA ) and 1st place National. </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">
<br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span><b>America –
<br />The Land of the Free and Home of the Brave</b>
<br /></span><span><i>
<br /> </i></span><i> </i><i>As the sun inched forward, Sam felt his life ebb away. It was fitting, he thought. He lay in his own blood, the rifle still warm in his hand. The battle had only lasted three days, but had marred the land in red. Sam had broken through Pickett’s Charge, taking out many Confederates singlehandedly. When the first bullet pierced his flesh, he felt no fear or remorse. “If this was the price of freedom, so be it!”
<br /></i><span>
<br /></span><span> </span><span>It was pitch dark. Sam’s lungs were bursting. The smoke had enveloped everything, even the deafening screams. Pain seared through him. He was trapped. Chaos and terror was what he had walked into when he entered the building this morning, but there was no time to think. He rushed in to help the hundreds trapped above. Now, every breath was a labor. The building shuddered. He knew the end was near.
<br /></span><span>
<br /></span><span><i> </i></span><i>The color of his skin had destined Sam to toil in the fields, but Sam was not one to accept destiny. His faith that God had created all men equal, had driven him to loosen the shackles of slavery, and escape to Pennsylvania to join the Union. Braving the elements, and the risk of getting caught, Sam joined the Union Army. Three days of endless fighting, and all Sam wanted now was to sleep.
<br /></i><span>
<br /></span><span> </span><span> Sam woke up. It wasn’t the alarm or the baby. It was him … and a strange restless feeling. Even the coffee didn’t help. He checked in on the baby. She looked angelic sleeping in her mother’s arms. His wife, peacefully asleep, had never looked as beautiful as she did today. He couldn’t believe how fast the years had passed by – she had been his high school sweetheart. The trance was broken. The T.V. news reporter’s monotonous babble rose a few pitches. Sam turned around to watch the horror unfold.
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<br /></span><span><i> </i></span><i>The battlefield was marked by the dead and the dying. The Confederates and Union troops had clashed here mercilessly, but in death they became one, for they bled the same red.
<br /></i><span>
<br /></span><span> </span><span>The streets were red, dotted with fire trucks. Sam flashed his N.Y. Fire Department badge at the officer, and said, “Off duty!” He raced up the floors, bringing many to safety. The building shuddered. More screams. It was the last time that Sam went up that staircase.
<br /></span><span><i>
<br /></i></span><i>The sun was up now, and so was the Union flag. Yes, it was fitting! The shackles of slavery were finally broken. Sam had beaten destiny. His last breath was his first of freedom. He was free at last.
<br />Cemetery Hill, Gettysburg. July 3, 1863.</i><span> <i> </i> <i>
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<br /></span><span> </span><span>It was eerily silent, but Sam could hear his wife’s voice, and his daughter’s first word, “Da”. The building shuddered again. Sam closed his eyes. With a hand on his heart he began to softly sing, “The Star Spangled Banner”. His world came crashing down. World Trade Center, South Tower, New York. September 11, 2001. <i> </i></span><i>
<br />
<br /></i></span><span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span">Yash </span>Balaji
<br /></span>
<br /></span></span></div>fizz-kidzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15976877380579034884noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8346590804840814193.post-47524814083575897672011-01-10T21:37:00.001-05:002011-01-10T21:38:37.733-05:00For Tvisha – Age 16, 1982<span class="Apple-style-span" >I believe that I was promoted to grade 12 by the college officials, who were very kind to me by not failing me, due to which I would have lost a year. I know I did well enough to pass every subject except the French language. Well, you get what you deserve if you don’t attend classes.<br /><br />During this time, my passion for the Beatles grew by leaps and bounds. I made a few friends in college who were also like-minded about the group. I started slowly accumulating each of their albums, and having listened to them so often on a daily basis, began to sing their songs as well. That is when I discovered that I had a God given good voice.<br /><br />I was a little more serious as far as studies were concerned, and ended up faring a little better than the previous year. I would go on to pursue my Bachelors in Science after this year in the same college.<br /><br />Otherwise grade 12 was more or less a repeat of grade 11 for me, but for most of my friends, it was time to get really serious about their studies as grade 12 is the launching pad to head on to do 4 year courses in computer applications, medicine, Indian Institute of Technology, etc. I am not sure why but I had no such aspirations. To get into these programs, students had to score above 98% in the 3 main subjects Physics, Chemistry and Math, and overall as well.<br /><br />One day, Krish, thaatha and I were at the doctors. Suddenly we saw one of the boys from our apartment building in Bandra over there. Our eyes locked in, and we smiled at each other. This was as good an opportunity to start talking and getting to know each other. That led to us mixing with all the other girls and boys in the building.<br /><br />Krish and I realized how wrong we were all the time. These guys were really cool, and I believe they thought the same about us as well. One thing we did manage to have them do over time was to let go! These guys were very proper on how to behave and how to talk in general. We kind of loosened them up to a great extent ☺. You don’t need to be too disciplined all the time you know, and have to let your hair down now and then and enjoy life.<br /><br />We started getting along really well, and would play cricket matches every Sunday, and badminton and table tennis in the weekends.<br /><br />There was an individual by the name of Ganpati who was such a motivator for all of us. He formed a club in the building and had us paint badminton courts and put up the net, would take us hiking in the monsoon. We would have building get togethers, pot lucks, badminton, carrom and table tennis championships, etc. We would all go to movies together.<br />Those were some of the best years of my life. We started going to Sion less often. Krish and I would move to Bandra, as now we loved Bandra, and its people too!<br /><br />- Appa<br /><br /><left><a href="http://www.mommyspiggytales.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_YHrNoqsyfsA/TI3OVgIAnEI/AAAAAAAAAjs/YmI7ywlLcjI/s144/completed%20tales%20button-10.jpg" /></a></left><br /></span>fizz-kidzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15976877380579034884noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8346590804840814193.post-57745234310966327532011-01-10T21:32:00.003-05:002011-01-10T21:36:47.983-05:00For Tvisha – Age 15, 1981<meta name="Title" content=""> <meta name="Keywords" content=""> <meta equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"> <meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"> <meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 2008"> <meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 2008"> <link rel="File-List" href="file://localhost/Users/sriramsivaramakrishnan/Library/Caches/TemporaryItems/msoclip/0clip_filelist.xml"> <!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <o:documentproperties> <o:template>Normal.dotm</o:Template> <o:revision>0</o:Revision> <o:totaltime>0</o:TotalTime> <o:pages>1</o:Pages> <o:words>587</o:Words> <o:characters>3347</o:Characters> <o:company>Big Sris Food Inc</o:Company> <o:lines>27</o:Lines> <o:paragraphs>6</o:Paragraphs> <o:characterswithspaces>4110</o:CharactersWithSpaces> <o:version>12.0</o:Version> </o:DocumentProperties> <o:officedocumentsettings> <o:allowpng/> </o:OfficeDocumentSettings> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:trackmoves>false</w:TrackMoves> <w:trackformatting/> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:drawinggridhorizontalspacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing> <w:drawinggridverticalspacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing> <w:displayhorizontaldrawinggridevery>0</w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery> <w:displayverticaldrawinggridevery>0</w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:dontgrowautofit/> <w:dontautofitconstrainedtables/> <w:dontvertalignintxbx/> </w:Compatibility> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:latentstyles deflockedstate="false" latentstylecount="276"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--> <style> <!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:Wingdings; panose-1:5 2 1 2 1 8 4 8 7 8; mso-font-charset:2; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:0 0 65536 0 -2147483648 0;} @font-face {font-family:Calibri; panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin-top:0in; margin-right:0in; margin-bottom:10.0pt; margin-left:0in; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> </style> <!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} </style> <![endif]--> <!--StartFragment--> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" >Dear Tvisha,</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" >1981 was a new beginning for me – it was the year I went to college. Don’t be confused. In India we start college (higher secondary as it is known) after secondary school that lasts from grade 6 till grade 10. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" >I joined the science stream (remember the famous wish of parents during that time? – doctor or engineer as a future career? :-)). Moreover, Krish was also in Science, so why not me too was the thought. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" >College was totally new after school – no more uniforms, the flexibility of not attending class when you didn’t feel like (at least that’s the way I thought, which wasn’t a good thing to do ha ha), and for me I was coming from a boys only school to a co-ed college. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" >So, first of all, I had to now deal with girls! Ha ha, problem was I was so shy with girls, I had no girls with whom I talked at all for almost my whole college life. The most I would do was smile at a few girls in my class. That was the extent of my friendship with them. It wasn’t the same with the boys. I had lots and lots of friends in college who were boys. The college had a gym with all kinds of games, and a canteen that were my two favorite places to hang out, apart from hanging outside the college with my friends, and friends from near our apartment, and friends of Krish. By the way the college was one block from our apartment building. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" >We had quite a personality who was our principal at the time, Mr. Ramaswamy. He used to be a chain smoker and would always take a walk around the college a few times during the day seeking out students who had bunked lectures and were in the canteen or in the gym. Whenever you saw some students suddenly run away from the corridor, you knew he was around and we would go and hide wherever we could :-). The problem was that I had been caught a few times by him and I had to be a little careful. I was more visible than others in college as I was out most of the time, and very rarely did attend lectures, and my attendance went from good to very poor. So my studies suffered, and what went up was my carom playing skills and my debt with the canteen guy for all the food and coffee I would go through on a daily basis. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" >In the meanwhile thaatha got an offer from the bank to move to one of the apartments the bank rented where we could, till the end of his tenure with the bank, live in a bigger 2 bedroom apartment in Bandra, a town around 10 miles away from Sion. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" >Krish and I hated the idea of moving from Sion. All our friends were there, moreover we would have to travel daily by bus to reach our college in Sion whereas now it was a half a minute walk. Bandra was an upscale town where all the rich people lived. So we branded all of them as snobs. Thaatha was adamant that he wanted to live there. So although we shifted all our stuff to the bank’s apartment, Krish and I continued to spend the day and almost all nights in Sion. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" >Now in Sion, since there was no adult with us, the apartment became a den with any of our friends walking in when they chose, and there always used to be some guys there. It got so bad that at times, even we wouldn’t know who was in our house when we would go there. All this was because we had spare keys to the apartment out to some of our friends. We knew this had to stop.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" >We lived in Pali Hill, Bandra. It is a place where a lot of film actors lived, and very rich individuals. It is a very affluent part of Bombay, with the sea nearby and has a lot of clubs and gymkhanas to cater to these folks. Each family in the apartment building had at least one car. Initially there were not many people to be seen at all, and even if we did see them, most of the time they would be getting into or out of their cars. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" >Krish and I formed a very false impression about the building we moved to, as we would find out in some months. Aided by this perception, there was shyness as well that stopped us from really approaching the guys our age whom we did see there to become friends with. Until then we would live in Sion, and commute once or twice a week to be with thaatha.</span></p> <span class="Apple-style-span" ><span style="line-height: 115%; "><span class="Apple-style-span">- Appa</span></span><!--EndFragment--> </span><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;" >
<br /></span></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" >
<br /><left><a href="http://www.mommyspiggytales.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_YHrNoqsyfsA/TI3OVgIAnEI/AAAAAAAAAjs/YmI7ywlLcjI/s144/completed%20tales%20button-10.jpg" /></a></left></span>fizz-kidzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15976877380579034884noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8346590804840814193.post-28113652872094835932011-01-03T16:14:00.001-05:002011-01-03T16:16:29.531-05:00For Tvisha – Age 14, 1980<span style="font-family:verdana;">Dear Tvisha,<br /><br />I lost mammai (my grandma) to cancer in November 1980. I knew she was very serious when they had asked thaatha to come to Madras and be with her during her last few days. When I received the eventual call from there about her demise, I reacted with no emotion. Krish and I had learnt to set aside all our emotions in some deep corner of our minds. It was as if we had decided that we wouldn’t cry over losing her.<br /><br />Although she hadn’t been living with us for almost the last two years, it was a big loss for me, having lost someone who had played the role of my mother, after my mother’s demise at a very young age. I still have fond memories of both of them to this day. I only wish that I could have spent a much longer time with them than I had done.<br /><br />I did get the chance to visit mammai that year when I had gone to Madras with thaatha. I still couldn’t comprehend the seriousness of the illness and the obvious result that it would have. Or, she didn’t show her suffering through it, since she was such a strong lady mentally and always had a smile for me.<br /><br />My uncle stayed half a mile away from his sister (my aunt) in Madras. I always used to love going to Madras. There was a general store right around the corner, in between my uncle’s apartment and my aunt’s house. Since I had found a substitute to my favorite drink, Coke, in something called Thums Up!, I used to drink quite a few daily and usually asked the store keeper to add the cost of the drinks to my aunt’s monthly account with him. I got nicknamed Thums Up Aiiyaa (Mr. Thums Up!) by the people who worked at the store, due to the sheer number of Thums Up I used to drink on a daily basis.<br /><br />It got to a point where the bill went way too high. So I came up with this idea of splitting the daily cost of the colas evenly between my uncle and his sister so that neither of them would feel the pinch. Clever, huh? :-)<br /><br />For my birthday that year, I was gifted and introduced to my very first Beatles album by Krish. It was the best gift I could receive. That’s how I came to know and love The Beatles, my favorite music group. The album Krish got me was ‘Revolver’. The Beatles were arguably the most popular music group during the 60’s till the disbanded in 1970.<br /><br />On Dec 8, 1980, John Lennon, one of the leaders of the group, died at the age of 40 after being shot by a person outside his apartment building. It was one of the biggest shocks in the music world. Krish was very upset about this.<br /><br />This was also my final year of school, and the pressure was immense on everyone since we would be moving on to college and we had perform well in order to get into the college of our choice. For the first time, I took tuitions in Math and Science from my class teacher, Mr. Pandey, to help me do well in the final exams, held by the state. School that year wasn’t that much fun because of all this pressure.<br /><br />-Appa<br /><br /><br /></span><a href="http://www.mommyspiggytales.com/gettingstarted/"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><img src="http://i268.photobucket.com/albums/jj12/dcrdesign/mommys-piggy-tales-button.jpg" border="0" /></span></a><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span>fizz-kidzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15976877380579034884noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8346590804840814193.post-32655101386411137832011-01-03T16:11:00.002-05:002011-01-03T16:16:49.664-05:00For Tvisha – Age 13, 1979<span style="font-family:verdana;">Dear Tvisha,<br /><br />1979 was a year that seemed to go by very fast.<br /><br />Since thaatha was provided with a car the previous year, I wanted to learn how to drive as soon as possible. I learnt to drive a car when I was 12, and would drive around the apartment building first going back and forth, and left and right in the tight corners around the building, navigating around other parked cars. That is how I honed my driving skills that made me very confident on the main streets in Bombay.<br /><br />What was very popular around that time was the only open air theater in Bombay, another perk we could enjoy thanks to the car at our disposal. I went to see so many movies, experiencing this unique way of watching movies along with Krish, thaatha, Ghosalkar, our friends, and also the resident mosquitoes from the nearby bird sanctuary :-). The food used to be great, and I can still remember the flavor of the best popcorn I have had over there.<br /><br />Thaatha’s brother moved to the city of Madras (now Chennai), located in the South of India. I don’t know the exact reasons for it. He also took mammai (my grandma) along with him, and again thaatha, Krish and I were all alone. Thus began a new phase of life, with three men trying to take care of their job and school, and housework as well. Fun!<br /><br />Thaatha used to tour a lot then. So our apartment was like a den when thaatha wasn’t around, with our friends from the building coming over, going out for movies, playing cards and carrom at home, studying for exams as a group, and generally hanging out.<br /><br />As far as food was concerned we used to get by eating muffins and bananas most of the times for dinner. Thaatha very soon got tired of this and started preparing food at home in his own unique style – prepared very quickly, blandest food of them all, but very tasty since all you got was the natural taste of the pulses and vegetables :-).<br /><br />Of course once he was done cooking, I would take over, set aside some food for him, and then completely change the makeup of the food, making it suitable to Krish’s and my palettes. That is where my curiosity to experiment with food and modifying began.<br /><br />The one thing that could be looked at as if I was taking charge of my life was when we renewed celebrations of Lord Ganesha in our apartment building. If you remember we used to celebrate this occasion in a really big way. But as people started moving away from Sion on to other parts of Bombay where they could find bigger apartments for a cheaper price, there weren’t many elders who were willing to take responsibility of hosting this event in the building.<br /><br />I thought about it and said to myself, why shouldn’t we have this celebration in our building, it is not difficult to do this. So, with the help of another elder friend Kumar who was thrilled with my enthusiasm, we went and purchased a clay idol and all the stuff for decorations on the day of the festival. The building came alive, even if it was only for the first few days, and then on the final day of immersion. I tried my best to go seek out and announce the timing of the poojas to the folks in the building who wanted to participate. It was a decent success at best, but I was very proud of what I did at this age.<br /><br />-Appa</span><br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://www.mommyspiggytales.com/gettingstarted/"><img src="http://i268.photobucket.com/albums/jj12/dcrdesign/mommys-piggy-tales-button.jpg" border="0" /></a>fizz-kidzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15976877380579034884noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8346590804840814193.post-34276747531399047042010-12-26T12:25:00.001-05:002010-12-26T12:27:56.340-05:00For Tvisha - Age 12, 1978<span class="Apple-style-span">Dear Tvisha,<br /><br />1978 was yet another year with a couple of major events, one of them good and the other one not good.<br /><br />Responsibilities at school were increasing, as schoolwork got tougher. I now had become at best an average student in class. This never bothered me much though. My aim now was to do the best I can, and it was ok if I didn’t make the top of the class. I was still doing very well in a few of the subjects such as Mathematics.<br /><br />I had made many friends by now. After my mother, there was no one really to monitor how long we stayed out of the apartment after coming back home from school. I used to hang out with my friends until late, or would come home, have dinner and then go back out again. Not great for a 12 year old, by the way.<br /><br />Thaatha got busier at work. He got a big promotion at the bank. They made him responsible for the state of Maharashtra and Goa. He had to travel several times a month to cover all the cities that fell within his area of management in order to monitor performance. As you can expect, he was also coming back home a little later than usual, and brought a lot of work home that he would work on after dinner for a long time. So he wasn’t able to spend as much time with Krish and I as he would have liked.<br /><br />The bank also provided thaatha with a new car and a chauffer to go along with it. So our lifestyle changed a bit due to this as we could travel now by car to any place we wanted to, when we chose to. We really liked this convenience, which was something new for us. The person who used to drive thaatha to and back from work was a man named Ghosalkar. Over the years he became very close to us. You may remember him from your visits to India when I always meet him. I consider Ghosalkar to be one of our family, he is that close to us.<br /><br />I may not have mentioned this to you, but after my mother passed away, thaatha’s brother who got married moved back to live with us along with his wife, and of course my grandmother (mammai) who took the place of my mother in raising us.<br /><br />There was something going on, with my father and his brother taking mammai to the doctor often. I could sense that not everything was right. When I would ask they would just say everything was fine. I was in the midst of my final exams at this point and was in full preparations for the same. That was the reason why they wouldn’t tell me what was going on with her. I was really close to my grandma, hence.<br /><br />So on the day my exams got over, my uncle (thaatha’s brother) looked very relieved and informed me that grandma’s surgery went well. I was very surprised that they didn’t even tell me about her surgery. Then I went and visited her at the hospital every day while she was recovering. She was there for quite a long time. I didn’t like that hospital (not that anyone is supposed to like a hospital in the first place unless you work there, I think).<br /><br />One day after school, I came back home as usual. My uncle’s wife opened the door to let me in. I walked into the room and placed my bag in the corner of the room as I always do, when I heard someone making a clapping noise. I turned around and saw my dear grandma sitting on the bed and beckoning me. I was so happy and thrilled to see her, I jumped on the bed and hugged her so tight and didn’t want to let go. Then I saw as to why she couldn’t call out to me when I came in. There was a hole in her throat through which they had conducted the surgery and it hadn’t healed yet. So she couldn’t speak for the time being.<br /><br />Later on, I learnt that grandma had ulcerative colitis for a long time that eventually turned into colon cancer, for which they had operated her. The prognosis wasn’t too good, something I would learn only after a few years.<br /><br />- Appa</span><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://www.mommyspiggytales.com/gettingstarted/"><img src="http://i268.photobucket.com/albums/jj12/dcrdesign/mommys-piggy-tales-button.jpg" border="0" /></a>fizz-kidzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15976877380579034884noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8346590804840814193.post-91223258004642776872010-12-09T14:07:00.003-05:002010-12-09T14:13:19.994-05:00For Tvisha – Age 11, 1977<span style="font-family:verdana;">Dear Tvisha, </span>
<br />
<br />
<br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">1977 was a very uneventful year for me and the family. We were all still recovering from my mother’s passing away in 1976. Thaatha buried himself in his work. Although he used to give us anything we wanted, he wasn’t that communicative as he was dealing with his own grief. For me and Krish it felt like a big vacuum not having our mother around anymore, but in my grandma (cuttle appa’s wife) we found the person who took on the role of our mother in the best possible way she could. I just adored my grandma, a lovely lady with a never ending flow of affection and care for us.
<br /></span>
<br />
<br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">One thing I didn’t mention to you about the previous year was that just before paati passed away, they had found a bride for my father’s younger brother (my uncle) and his wedding date was in early June. And then paati passed away in May. By rituals we used to follow, we usually don’t celebrate anything for one year from when a family member passes away. Which meant that my uncle’s wedding would have to be postponed by a year. But thaatha would have none of that. He, as you know, was a very practical person. He made the decision, against most of our relatives and friends’ opinions, of not changing the wedding date. So my uncle did get married just barely a few weeks after my mother’s passing away. It was a very brave move by thaatha who felt there was no point in delaying something as important as a wedding, preparations for which had taken a lot of effort and time.
<br /></span>
<br />
<br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">My mother was my backbone as regards to my schooling with her tutoring, her constant reminders and expectations to focus on our studies, coming back home in time, etc. Things now took a different turn. As I was searching for answers mentally, I found that I had to take on the major responsibility of managing my studies on my own, given the situation. Thaatha was there to help us in any way needed with our studies, but he too was busy with his work and could not be around all the time to help manage our school work. My performance at school suffered as I started taking things less seriously. I even had a teacher comment about my dropping performance in class which I didn’t like. It got to a point where I didn’t care what my teacher thought. My performance in my eyes wasn’t as bad as my teachers thought.
<br /></span>
<br />
<br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">I was now in Standard VI, which was secondary school in India. So I was one of the bigger boys now :-). I played a lot of games in school during lunch break and before school started – cricket, square ball which similar to dodge ball, hockey, basketball and soccer. I tried my hand at everything. For the first time in my life, I started eating street food outside school each day. Now that is something no one should ever miss. There is something about street food that you can’t match anywhere else.
<br /></span>
<br />
<br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Oh yes, something else big happened that year. My beloved drink during the short recess, the chilled Coca Cola was gone from India! thanks to the brilliant idea of our then Prime Minister Mr. Morarji Desai and his government who demanded the Coca Cola company to reveal their secret formula so it could be manufactured in India. Yeah right! This was due to some policy that the government had come up with. So Mr. Coke said bye bye India. The next time I got to taste Coke was when I came to the USA to pursue my MBA, after 15 years. I will tell you, it was well worth the wait ;-).
<br /></span>
<br />
<br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">- Appa </span>
<br />
<br />
<br /><a href="http://www.mommyspiggytales.com/gettingstarted/"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><img src="http://i268.photobucket.com/albums/jj12/dcrdesign/mommys-piggy-tales-button.jpg" border="0" /></span></a></span><span style="font-family:verdana;"> </span>fizz-kidzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15976877380579034884noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8346590804840814193.post-58452426113246820192010-12-03T17:23:00.004-05:002010-12-03T17:30:30.559-05:00For Tvisha – Age 10, 1976<meta name="Title" content=""> <meta name="Keywords" content=""> <meta equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"> <meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"> <meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 2008"> <meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 2008"> <link rel="File-List" href="file://localhost/Users/sriramsivaramakrishnan/Library/Caches/TemporaryItems/msoclip/0clip_filelist.xml"> <!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <o:documentproperties> <o:template>Normal.dotm</o:Template> <o:revision>0</o:Revision> <o:totaltime>0</o:TotalTime> <o:pages>1</o:Pages> <o:words>883</o:Words> <o:characters>5037</o:Characters> <o:company>Big Sris Food Inc</o:Company> <o:lines>41</o:Lines> <o:paragraphs>10</o:Paragraphs> <o:characterswithspaces>6185</o:CharactersWithSpaces> <o:version>12.0</o:Version> </o:DocumentProperties> <o:officedocumentsettings> <o:allowpng/> </o:OfficeDocumentSettings> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:trackmoves>false</w:TrackMoves> <w:trackformatting/> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:drawinggridhorizontalspacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing> <w:drawinggridverticalspacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing> <w:displayhorizontaldrawinggridevery>0</w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery> <w:displayverticaldrawinggridevery>0</w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:dontgrowautofit/> <w:dontautofitconstrainedtables/> <w:dontvertalignintxbx/> </w:Compatibility> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:latentstyles deflockedstate="false" latentstylecount="276"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--> <style> <!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:Wingdings; panose-1:5 2 1 2 1 8 4 8 7 8; mso-font-charset:2; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:0 0 65536 0 -2147483648 0;} @font-face {font-family:Cambria; panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-fareast-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> </style> <!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} </style> <![endif]--> <!--StartFragment--> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" >Dear Tvisha,</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" >
<br /></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" > </span></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" >Although inevitable, the passing away of a human being especially when it happens without warning is something that a kid or even an adult can never be prepared for.<span> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" > </span></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" >
<br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" >My mother (your paati) passed away on May 17, 1976 at the very young age of 42, when we all least expected it.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" > </span></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" >
<br /></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" >Leelavati Sivaramakrishnan (1934 – 1976)<o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" >I had mentioned to you in one of my previous posts that your paati suffered from diabetes.<span> </span>She was diagnosed as suffering from diabetes at the age of 35. In order to control the high sugar levels, initially she took oral tablets, and then daily insulin shots. I remember going with her often to the doctor to test her urine for the presence of sugar. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" > </span></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" >
<br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" >To try and combat this she tried some ill advised methods such as skipping dinner daily. Although she avoided sugar in her coffee, her biggest weakness was her fondness of all kinds of sweet desserts.<span> </span>She used to make a lot of sweets as well, and couldn’t keep good control over her cravings. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" > </span></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" >
<br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" >Her diabetes got worse with time, and she was also admitted to the hospital when she cut her finger while playing the veena and the cut wouldn’t heal. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" > </span></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" >
<br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" >I had my summer holidays after the final exams. On May 16,<span> </span>paati wasn’t feeling good at all. It got pretty bad to a point where she was just lying on the bed, sleeping most of the time, not even having enough energy to get up or talk.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" > </span></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" >
<br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" >Thaatha called the doctor a few times to ask him to come see paati. The doctor underestimated the seriousness of the situation,<span> </span>and at first wouldn’t come immediately since it was a Sunday, his day off.<span> </span>Finally said he would come see her in the evening as he had to go some place. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" > </span></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" >
<br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" >As the situation got worse, thaatha got hold of another doctor who came home to see paati. He immediately asked thaatha to admit her to the hospital. Paati was admitted to the hospital around 5 pm. She was conscious at that point. They administered insulin but even that wasn’t improving her hyperglycemic status. Krish and I came back home very worried, and me not really understanding what was going on. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" > </span></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" >
<br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" >According to thaatha, after a couple of hours, my mother regained consciousness for a few minutes, inquired about us, and actually said to him, “take good care of the children in case anything happens to me”. It was as if she knew what was happening to her. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" > </span></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" >
<br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" >She went into a diabetic coma and passed away just after midnight.<span> </span>My uncles came to the hospital to relieve thaatha so he could come and deliver the news. It was not a pretty sight at home as the news spread late that night and into the early morning. There were a lot of people from the building who came to our apartment (the building was a very close knit building), with everyone crying.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" > </span></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" >
<br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" >I was scared, and buried my head into my grandma’s lap, and just heard what was going on, not having a clue of how to deal with what had happened, and what it meant. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" > </span></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" >
<br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" >I think the three of us, thaatha, Krish and I dealt with this devastating loss in our own ways.<span> </span>Thaatha, in his own words, was benumbed and wasn’t too communicative with people around and was involved in his own grief. It was good for all of us that my grandma moved back to live with us, as she was the common thread that held us all together to some kind of normalcy. I was in denial for a while and I could say the same for Krish. But eventually we all had to accept the fact and face it. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" > </span></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" >
<br /></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" >My mother’s passions & interests<o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" >Paati was a Math graduate and was passionate about Math and about education. She had specific goals for us – study and perform at the top and become a doctor or an engineer, two careers most parents wanted their kids to be in at that time :-).</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" > </span></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" >
<br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" >She used to tutor both Krish and I, and used to get very upset and angry if we didn’t perform to the levels set by her. I have gotten a lot of scolding from her. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" > </span></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" >
<br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" >She was musically very inclined and talented. She learnt music from cuttle appa, and after his passing away, in later years she engaged a teacher to come home and teach her vocals along with her friends.<span> </span>She used to be very good playing the veena and performed at building functions during the Ganesh festivals. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" > </span></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" >
<br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" >Cooking was something she was very fond of, and was great at it. She would come up with her own recipes, and also modify recipes from magazines to suit our palette and her cooked food was just fantastic. She used to maintain all her recipes in a diary which I am still trying to locate. We just don’t know where it went. Thank God for Blogger today, or I would have lost all my recipes! :-)</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" > </span></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" >
<br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" >Paati loved to visit new places and hence we would try and go to a new place every year. She was also great at keeping in touch with all her sisters and all her social contacts, and was very popular in our apartment building and the neighboring ones.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" > </span></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" >
<br /></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" >Marriage (1956)<o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" >My mother’s father was a very prominent and well known citizen of Trichur, a small town in Kerala. My mother had 10 other siblings. Through the common astrologer, cuttle appa got an inquiry about marrying thaatha with paati. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" > </span></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" >
<br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" >So thaatha’s mother and sister went to Trichur to see your paati. They wrote back from there saying that paati was very pretty and nice, but also was a little plump. Was thaatha ok with that? Thaatha had a nice reply to this – “How does that matter? She can get plump even after marriage!” :-).</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" > </span></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" >
<br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" >Thaatha took 3 weeks off and headed to Trichur to see paati. He saw her, liked her and said yes to marrying her. They both hadn’t even talked to each other but were absolutely fine with what they had seen, and had figured each other out I suppose :-). Since thaatha had only 3 weeks time off, they settled on a date within the next 10 days and they were married off! :-) Cool, isn’t it?</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" > </span></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" >
<br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" >They went to Vaikkom, a neighboring town, for their honeymoon and then came to Bombay to begin their new life together. Krish was born in 1961, followed by yours truly in 1966.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" > </span></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" >
<br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" >I have tried my best to recollect and write what I could about my mother. I had to take help from thaatha of course. And yes I will be writing more about her in subsequent posts, and as I remember events or situations.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" > </span></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" >
<br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" >Appa</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" >
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<br /></span></p> <!--EndFragment--><span class="Apple-style-span" >
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<br /><a href="http://www.mommyspiggytales.com/gettingstarted/"><img src="http://i268.photobucket.com/albums/jj12/dcrdesign/mommys-piggy-tales-button.jpg" border="0" /></a></span>fizz-kidzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15976877380579034884noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8346590804840814193.post-86940592362436364372010-11-18T14:32:00.003-05:002010-11-18T14:36:00.068-05:00For Tvisha – Age 9, 1975<span style="font-family:verdana;">Dear Tvisha,<br /><br />This was one of the best years I had, traveling wise. School was getting tougher every year, with the expectation of performing at the top level in class.<br /><br />Paati used to teach me daily and help me with my homework. She was very good in Mathematics, and instrumental in me getting top scores in the subject. She was very particular about Krish and I doing really well in class, and made sure that we worked very hard. People from South India, from where we originated were known to be well educated, who worked hard and were loyal to the company they worked at , generally starting and finishing their careers at the same company. So now you know where it all came from :-).<br /><br />What was becoming a joke in our apartment building and the neighboring building was whether I made the school bus daily in time or not. Some of the neighbors used to come to their balconies to watch this and get entertained. The bus would come exactly at 7.30 am to pick me up. If the bus driver didn’t find me waiting, he would start honking continuously. So while I was getting readied so to speak, someone would stand at our kitchen that faced the street, or run out to tell the driver that I was almost on my way. What was the reason for all this commotion? I just couldn’t wake up soon enough. Almost on a daily basis, I would be running out of my apartment with my school bag hanging from one arm, my shoes and socks on the other and a chapati rolled with butter and jam (my breakfast) jutting out from my mouth. I would somehow make the bus mainly because the driver was so nice. All my friends in the bus would make fun of me, and who can forget the neighbors watching all this and having their entertainment for the day.<br /><br />The four of us, paati, thaatha, Krish and I traveled a lot this year. We visited several places. I traveled by air for the first time in my life. Our first trip was from Bombay to Goa, by air. Of course Krish and I fought for the window seat, and of course he won!<br /><br />Apparently for reasons still unknown to me and my family, while sightseeing in Goa, I was upset about something and due to that I wouldn’t walk alongside my family, I was walking on the other side of the street, but I did make sure that I was close enough to them in this new city :-). Not good behavior on my part. We had a great time in Goa, visiting the beautiful beaches the city had to offer and its monuments, churches and temples.<br /><br />We almost missed our flight from Goa to Trivandrum, capital of Kerala, in South of India. We were sitting at the gate as the flight was delayed, and didn’t realize when everyone had already boarded the flight. Out of the blue, a lady from a foreign land shouted out to us, saying “Hey Trivandrum, Come Along!”. Apparently she was in the same flight from Bombay to Goa and recognized us as we waited for the flight.<br /><br />Before another fight could start, thaatha had settled matters in an amicable way between Krish and me, saying one of us could have the window seat on take off and the other on landing. Thankfully for us the plane wasn’t full, and both got to enjoy our own window seats.<br /><br />We visited Kanya Kumari, which is a town at the southernmost tip of South India and went to see Swami Vivekananda’s statue. Swami Vivekananda was a great philosopher in India. In his memory, there is a memorial built on a rock around 200 meters in the ocean. You have to travel there on a boat. We saw the sunset there which was really beautiful.<br /><br />We headed to Palakkad from there to attend my cousin’s marriage. That was the time when I had started to play cricket a couple of years ago, and we got to play cricket now in the fields as opposed to the concrete streets in Bombay. It was different and fun.<br /><br />Paati got to see all her relatives and siblings, was very happy and mentioned offhand that who knew, she may never see them again, especially the old folks.<br /><br />Our next stop was Ernakulum to one of our relatives place. The most exciting thing for me there was the railway tracks that ran just around 40 feet away from our relative’s house. I had so much fun watching the trains go by, especially the Island Express which daily used to speed past the house we were staying at. I don’t remember the colors of the cars, but do remember the steam engine that pulled the cars. It was jet black, with a huge star painted in silver occupying the middle of the face of the engine, with its headlight in the center. It looked really imposing when the Island Express roared past us, with steam puffing ferociously towards the sky. Then there was the Cochin Mail that had a light blue colored diesel engine, whose cars were painted dark blue with light blue stripes running through the middle. A fantastic combination :-). I found that in the South there were more trains with their own distinctive colors and engines. Even though electric engines were available that would have saved money, some of the trains were being pulled by steam engines and diesel engines. Must be about prestige and history.<br /><br />We visited Chennai after that, to visit paati’s elder sister (my aunt). My aunt had 7 kids, all girls. They lived in a huge house, and the days we stayed there were one of the best times I had. We visited a lot of family from both thaatha and paati’s side in Chennai. We finally made it back to Bombay almost 3-4 weeks after having a fantastic vacation.<br /><br />Back home, I was finding it difficult to find boys of my age to hang out with and play together. The people my age were girls, and some of them who I was good friends with had left our apartment building to go live some place else. Most of the boys who played were all elder to me in age, and the age gap was a big issue. Being a small kid amongst teenagers, I didn’t get any chance to play cricket with them or even hang out with them. I would be sent home since I was ‘still’ a kid. Finally I made a few friends who were from apartments a block away from where we used to live. After that I had no complaints whatsoever in terms of having enough friends as that group of friends grew to a 20 to 30 strong member group over the next few years.<br /><br />Also around this time, thaatha and paati were on a mission, looking for a prospective bride for thaatha’s younger brother. This meant a lot of work for them. Arranged marriage was the widely accepted and followed way of getting married in India during that time. But that needed a lot of ground work and research. Once there is mutual interest shown by two families, it starts from meeting the prospective bride’s family, assessing them, and tapping your network of contacts and friends to enquire about the family and the prospective bride. This worked both ways. After making sure that both the groom’s side and the bride’s side weren’t crazy people :-) and their reputations were intact, the parents from both sides would meet and discuss the possibility of marriage and match horoscopes of the groom and bride. If things moved forward, then the girl and boy would meet up briefly, ask each other a few questions if at all, form whatever opinion they can in those 10 minutes or so, and then make the decision whether to get married or not. Scary?? Absolutely. But this system does have its merits and has worked for generations with huge success.<br /><br />All in all, this was a very enjoyable year; I was doing well at school and enjoying it; I got to make new friends, lots of them, and went on a big vacation with my family; and visited several places in India and met with almost all my relatives. It was fantastic and I have to thank my parents for that.<br /><br />It would also turn out to be the last vacation I went on with paati.<br /><br />- Appa<br /><br /></span><br /><br /><a href="http://www.mommyspiggytales.com/gettingstarted/"><img src="http://i268.photobucket.com/albums/jj12/dcrdesign/mommys-piggy-tales-button.jpg" border="0" /></a>fizz-kidzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15976877380579034884noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8346590804840814193.post-75017961995723404742010-11-11T13:19:00.004-05:002010-11-12T08:50:03.847-05:00For Tvisha – Age 8, Grade 3 (1974)<span style="font-family:verdana;">Dear Tvisha,<br /><br />There were a lot of happy moments during this year and one that was worrisome, outside of life in school.<br /></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">I will get to the worrisome one first. I am not very clear as to when they diagnosed the diabetes my mother (your paati) had. One day while playing the Veena she cut her right index finger pretty badly while striking one of the strings.<br /><br />She went to our family doctor and got it bandaged and continued to do so for several days, but to no avail. The finger was only getting worse, with no signs of healing.<br /><br />My father (your thaatha) finally took her to the local private hospital. It was pretty serious and they had to slice off a tiny part of her finger, as it was badly infected. The doctor said that if there was any more delay they would have had to cut her finger off. She had to watch her sugar levels very closely going forward, and manage her diabetes the best she could.<br /><br />Paati stayed at the hospital for over a week or so. Thinking back, I am sure that the thoughts going through her mind at that time were not pretty. She expressed the desire to go visit all of her relatives in India. She belonged to a large group of siblings who were scattered around India. She got her desire fulfilled. We had a fantastic time vacationing :-).<br /><br />There were several other events that happened this year. Krish had his thread ceremony (that symbolizes coming of age). He was 13 years old. Thaatha had invited many people for this event. Such are occasions where most if not all of the family attends, and is a part of the celebrations.<br /><br />We went to the south of India to attend my cousin sister’s wedding. There were so many people there. Since my mom’s family was huge, there were many cousins of ours who were present at the wedding, and mischievous things were happening that drove the adults crazy.<br /><br />There was a funny incident that I want to tell you about. There was a cute old lady, called kutti ammai, translated literally as ‘small mother’, because she was quite tiny. She gifted Krish Rs.50 (a big amount those days) for his thread ceremony. She couldn’t attend the event. Now I didn’t know the reason why she gave him the money though. From where I stood in the hallway, I just saw him go down flat on the floor and touch her feet and seek her blessings. I thought to myself, hey that was easy!. So I did the same thing as Krish, and lo and behold, I was given Rs.50 as well. I was so thrilled by this; I wanted to share what happened with my other cousins. So I went running around telling my cousins about the miracle that had just happened – go seek kutti ammai’s blessings and you will be rewarded with a lot of money!. Soon there was a long line of kids waiting to seek her blessings. As they fell flat on the floor to touch her feet, kutti ammai, being the grand lady she was, did not flinch a bit and handed the kids money from her purse that after some time was devoid of financial resources. Finally, given the sheer number of kids who went to see her, I am not sure how many of my cousins actually ended up getting money, haha.<br /><br />Paati started to learn to sing as well. She hired a teacher, a very kind lady who used to come over to our apartment with a harmonium and teach her music every day. Paati also got her friends from the building to join. So music was back in our apartment and it was so nice to hear the women singing on a daily basis.<br /><br />Movies in India are a big craze. You can easily see that, given the way appa watches most Hindi movies that release, and the good English ones too. I know you love movies as well. Since we didn’t have a television in our apartment then, Krish and I used to go watch a lot of movies in the theater.<br /><br />We did get a new phone before most people around us, and that made paati very proud :-). It was really tough to get a phone connection in India back in those days, and after filling an application for a phone people had to wait for months before they could get a line at their home, such was the demand for phones. I still remember our first phone number, which was 482627.<br /><br />What I remember particularly about some of the Thursdays (my day off from school) that year was the visits my mother and I used to make to her sisters' places during the day, when the mighty West Indies team had come to play a series of cricket games versus the Indian cricket team. These kind of series last a few months, and hence there were a number of occasions when we did this. Krish used to join us most of the times.<br /><br />Why do I remember this so vividly? Well, the West Indian team was so good and so flamboyant in displaying their cricketing talent that even women in India started following the game of cricket. Further when my mother and her sisters met, it was a treat for me, a mini feast, with all kinds of food experimentation taking place. Sandwiches were made with different varieties of chutneys each time, some with mango, some with ginger and caramelized onions, all packed in different twists and turns in between two unassuming slices of white bread. That was also the first time paati let me eat eggs. Remember, we were strict vegetarians. My aunt prepared a hardboiled egg, which was delivered to me steaming hot, sliced into 4 long pieces, seasoned with salt and pepper. Yum!<br /><br />Finally that year we made a trip to Poona. Paati had never been to Poona and she really wanted to go there. Thaatha was invited by his friends Joshi, Thite and Mulay from the bank to visit them in Poona, and they had also arranged a guest house for us to stay at.<br /><br />We were in Poona for 3 weeks. The trip started off with a big disappointment for Krish and me, since we were so looking forward to going to Poona from Bombay on the Deccan Queen. Alas, there was a railway strike, and we ended up hiring a private cab. When we reached the guest house around afternoon, when Krish and I were in a rush to see who could hit the toilet first, a couple of my fingers got caught between the door and the hinges when he shut the door in a hurry, and my finger nails were crushed. That apart, Poona was awesome. We went sightseeing all day and just ate to our heart’s content.<br /><br />We were invited for a few dinners. There, instead of our staple diet of rice, we were served pooris (fried whole wheat dough shaped flat like mini tortillas) accompanied by curries and vegetables. Krish and I got hooked to pooris.<br /><br />The best thing is that the restaurants we went to back then in 1974 in Poona, still exist, I think. They are Café Mona, Café Delite, Roopali and Vaishali. Café Mona had a glass walled kitchen so people could see the cooks preparing the food. The cooks used to throw huge flat poori dough high up in the air as a show, before they were deep fried. Thaatha still laughs when he remembers our standard phrase wherever we used to go to eat food in Poona – ‘chawal ke badley mein poori dena’!, translated as ‘serve pooris instead of rice, please!’<br /><br />When we visit India next year, I am definitely going to take you to Café Mona to eat those delicious super size pooris.<br /><br />- Appa</span><br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://www.mommyspiggytales.com/gettingstarted/"><img src="http://i268.photobucket.com/albums/jj12/dcrdesign/mommys-piggy-tales-button.jpg" border="0" /></a>fizz-kidzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15976877380579034884noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8346590804840814193.post-26119067520188594952010-11-04T14:08:00.005-04:002010-11-04T20:40:11.677-04:00For Tvisha – Age 7 (1973)<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirdISikkECpy7Vgrjn3woWW3wIt99xqzL84YZhfjzXOm-sLcRDLZEvI4jDNzTp6hEZwD-YNIMZClUitMp9E-jq06jJ5_kXrtR21_sBZTj39s5l-hb7c_JjUluL3XFoufsuc6C29JUcZ9o/s1600/Ganpati+festival.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5535758195585422130" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 286px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirdISikkECpy7Vgrjn3woWW3wIt99xqzL84YZhfjzXOm-sLcRDLZEvI4jDNzTp6hEZwD-YNIMZClUitMp9E-jq06jJ5_kXrtR21_sBZTj39s5l-hb7c_JjUluL3XFoufsuc6C29JUcZ9o/s400/Ganpati+festival.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div><em><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;"><br /></span></em></div><div><em><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;"><br /></span></em></div><div><em><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;"><br /></span></em></div><div><em><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;"><br /></span></em></div><div><em><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;"><br /></span></em></div><div><em><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;"><br /></span></em></div><div><em><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;"><br /></span></em></div><div><em><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;"><br /></span></em></div><div><em><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;"><br /></span></em></div><div><em><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;"><br /></span></em></div><div><em><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;"><br /></span></em></div><div><em><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;"><br /></span></em></div><div><em><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;"><br /></span></em></div><div><em><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;"><br /></span></em></div><div><em><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;"><br /></span></em></div><div><em><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;">(Here is my mom in the center, and a few other ladies from our apartment building singing during the Ganpati festival celebrations)</span></em></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br />Dear Tvisha,<br /><br />There are several events during this year that are coming to mind very clearly.<br /><br />School was full of fun with lots of friends, homework and exams. I was doing well too, and was in the class top 10. I will give all credit to my mother for that.<br /><br />During our daily short recess in school that lasted only 5 minutes from 11.25 am to 11.30 am, the school arranged for those who paid for it, a refreshment that was usually a 12oz bottle of chilled Coca Cola. If Coke weren’t available then there was Energee, a flavored milk drink.<br /><br />As soon as the bell rang announcing the recess, the kids would run as fast as they could to the long hallway outside the classroom where the refreshments were kept, pick one up and drink. We had a friendly bet to see who finished his Coke first (bottoms up if they could!). I used to finish first most of the times. Yes! :-)<br /><br />Father Oscar succeeded Father Gaiety. Now that I think about it, Father Oscar had a brilliant idea by which he tried to pique the interest of the kids into the hobby of collecting stamps. During the long recess at 1 pm, once a week, he stood at the balcony on the 2nd floor outside his office and throw hundreds of stamps into the air to the kids below, and the kids did their best to catch and accumulate as many stamps as they could. For some years I had picked up this hobby of collecting stamps. I had several hundreds of stamps that I gave to another kid when I grew up.<br /><br />At the home front, this was the first time that Krish, paati, your thaatha and I began living alone in the apartment that was full of people living as a joint family. Thaatha’s two sisters had been married off and they went to their husbands’ homes, and cuttle appa as you know passed away when I was 3+. Thaatha’s younger brother Ramudu found a job at the same bank as thaatha. Since his office was far away from where we lived, he decided to rent a small apartment near his workplace and moved there with his mother, who was my grandmother.<br /><br />To be honest, it felt really sad to be without all these people who lived with us, and with whom we had such a great time. But then that is life - keeps moving, keeps changing.<br /><br />The four of us countered this loneliness at times by doing more and more things together like watching movies, visiting Ramudu at his new place, visiting my relatives, taking more vacation trips, going to the park daily, going to music shows, etc., which was great fun too.<br /><br />The best times during the year were the Ganpati festival and the Diwali festival. The Ganpati festival is celebrated all across Bombay to bring in the birthday of Lord Ganesha, and also to bring all kinds of people together to get a great sense of community.<br /><br />We celebrated this festival in the building in a spectacular fashion for 7 days, bringing a 3 foot idol of Ganesha and offering the Lord daily poojas, and lots of food and sweets distributed to whoever came for blessings. There would be music playing on the loudspeakers all through the evening. The whole of Bombay had and still has a festive atmosphere during these 10 days.<br /><br />We had daily shows that included Veena recitals by the some of the ladies in the building, magic shows, fancy dress shows, singing, etc. Everyone participated.<br /><br />It was absolute fun. The final day, when the idol was immersed into the sea, was a sad day since everything would come to a standstill, and people would get back to their routine daily life from the next day onwards.<br /><br />Another occasion during which the whole building came alive was during Diwali (festival of lights, to celebrate the triumph of good over evil). On this day we would wake up very early around 4 am, bathe, and offer prayers to God. We would then wear brand new clothes, and burst lots of firecrackers in our building compound.<br /><br />My mother, who was a great cook, prepared so many different sweet and savory snacks. Imagine this: early morning at 5 am all the kids from the building, and even some of the adults were down bursting firecrackers, and wishing everyone Happy Diwali in their brand new clothes. After the crackers were done, we would then head to our each of our friends home and wish their family Happy Diwali, and devour any sweets coming our way.<br /><br />There was exchange of sweets and savory items amongst the women in the building, including exchange of cooking tips, critical judgment of the dishes prepared and exchange of in demand recipes :-). I used to lend a keen ear to all of this.<br /><br />To top it all off, there was a feast at home usually consisting of onion sambar, roasted spicy potatoes, rice, rasam, papadam, and rice payasam.<br /><br />A tradition we always maintained on this day was to go see the latest movie in the theater. To this day, there are lot of prominent movie releases around Diwali, a sure fire way to earn revenues for the filmmakers.<br /><br />Here in the US, mommy and daddy have made it a point to celebrate the above 2 festivals in a grand manner, so you can not only get a good understanding of our culture and our festivals, but also we can all have a great time with all your friends and their families on these occasions.</span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;">- Appa</span></div><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span></div><div></div><br /><br /><a href="http://www.mommyspiggytales.com/gettingstarted/"><img src="http://i268.photobucket.com/albums/jj12/dcrdesign/mommys-piggy-tales-button.jpg" border="0" /></a>fizz-kidzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15976877380579034884noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8346590804840814193.post-55017919471340116212010-10-28T11:59:00.006-04:002010-10-28T12:07:07.020-04:00For Tvisha - 2nd Grade, Age 6 (1972)<p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" >Dear Tvisha,</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" >My first Television experience</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span"></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" >This was the year the black and white television was introduced for the first time in India. All the programs were broadcast by a broadcasting station called Doordarshan, which was owned by the government. There were no cable companies.</span></span></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" >There was a neighbor of ours, Capt. Mani. He was the first one in our apartment building to own a TV back then. He and his family were kind enough to let a lot of the kids in the building to come to their apartment daily in the evenings to watch the shows on the television. As you can understand television was like a magic box for us, something we had never experienced in our lives.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" >The shows we used to watch regularly would be a 30 minute program that showed Indian movie songs. Every Sunday evening we would get to watch an Indian movie. And twice a week they would show the Flintstones, a show I used to love.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" >Shopping and Chocolates</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" >My mother (your paati) used to take me shopping to the local mom and pop stores around our neighborhood to buy regular non perishable groceries, coffee, etc. Like most kids I used to love chocolate candies with my favorite being Cadbury’s. There would be a fight with my mom every time we used to go to the shops, where I would want chocolate candy and she would vehemently deny me the same. But the shopkeepers, especially the shop from where we used to buy freshly ground coffee, would give me a free chocolate, usually Cadbury’s Eclairs if I listened to my mom and behaved well. That was funny. </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" >So you see daddy loved and still loves chocolates just like you do. The chocolate candies I use to like and eat the most then used to be the Cadbury’s milk chocolate bars and Cadbury’s Plus bar, a chocolate bar filled with semi hard raspberry Jell-O inside. I am sure you would have loved that particular kind :-).</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" >Broken Bones</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" >This was the only time I have broken any bones in my body, and hopefully will be the last time. I got my right hand fractured. My brother Krish and his friends were playing a version of tag it in our friend’s apartment, running around at a good speed in the very small apartment. </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" >I, who was very small in size compared to the others wanted to participate as well. I slipped while running and fell. At the same time one of the guys stepped over my right wrist and broke my wrist. </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" >I didn’t cry by the way, but was in extreme pain. We went to the doctor and got my hand in a cast right away. What was worse than the pain due to the broken wrist was the itching sensation on my hand inside the cast, and I couldn’t do anything about it but bear it. Grrrrr!!</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" >All Aboarrrrd</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" >The trains that ran back and forth all over Bombay and from Bombay to other cities in India used to pass by very near our apartment building. As a kid I used to love the sound of the trains passing by at a high speed with their horns blaring. We had to resort to real trains since we didn’t have Thomas train amongst us in India during that time :-).</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" >The railway tracks were pretty close to our building, a couple of blocks away on the other side of a park. We used to go to the park to play, and sit and watch the trains go by.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" >There was one particular train that I was very fond of, called the Deccan Queen. Unlike the other trains, this train had special colors (beige top and navy blue in the bottom) and was the pride of the railways. It used to run between Bombay and Poona, and covered the distance in less than 3 hours. There were only a couple of stops between the two cities.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" >One could get all kinds of delicacies in the train to eat which you couldn’t in rest of the trains. There was a kitchen in the train and orders for food would be taken before the train left the city and would be delivered hot and fresh shortly. The train used to pass by exactly at 5.25 pm every evening. It still does :-).</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" >If you remember when you were just around 16 months old on your first trip to Bombay back in 2007, I took you to the over bridge from where we saw the Deccan Queen go by, although not at a very fast speed that day. I know you love trains, and I was so excited by the fact that I could let you also experience a part of my past. Between now and then, the only difference is that now the colors of the cars are red, white and grey.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" >We also used to make a lot of trips to South India. My mother liked to visit the temples and her relatives, and every summer vacation the whole family would go on such trips. Krish and I used to fight for the window seat in the train.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" >Apart from the train ride the biggest thrill for us used to be watching the engine pulling the train cars from our seat windows when the train took a turn. And the engines were so grand looking, either electric engines, engines powered by diesel, and steam engines. Nowadays when we travel all we see are electric engines, and the days of the steam engines are long gone by and the diesel engines are almost extinct. Oh Tvisha, I miss those days!</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" >- Appa</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></span></span></span></span></p><a href="http://www.mommyspiggytales.com/gettingstarted/"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><img src="http://i268.photobucket.com/albums/jj12/dcrdesign/mommys-piggy-tales-button.jpg" border="0" /></span></span></span></span></span></a>fizz-kidzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15976877380579034884noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8346590804840814193.post-31231883505689862652010-10-21T11:36:00.007-04:002010-10-21T11:44:25.180-04:00For Tvisha – 1st Grade, Age 5<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoJKOnkNrMawtjXldxlTN9Moi74PXAgeRjJt6D_eDqqnhhkjJsDXYdsz9NKMK7YMjl5DgLC3CZVATN9NMHvB4bHEyqOXvvvef7zsqCXVCrikuF4Ebza7P078J5EubcwU5lfFFmo2G87v4/s1600/Appa2.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5530523743439166546" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 286px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoJKOnkNrMawtjXldxlTN9Moi74PXAgeRjJt6D_eDqqnhhkjJsDXYdsz9NKMK7YMjl5DgLC3CZVATN9NMHvB4bHEyqOXvvvef7zsqCXVCrikuF4Ebza7P078J5EubcwU5lfFFmo2G87v4/s400/Appa2.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><em><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;">(Appa, and his good friend from that time, Mala)</span></em><br /><em><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;"></span></em><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Dear Tvisha,<br /><br />The year when I was in 1st grade was a very eventful year. There were quite a number of changes that I had to go through in school.<br /><br />I had to wake up really early since the school bus that usually came in around 9 am for kindergarten, came in around 7.30 am for first grade. Getting me ready daily to make it to the waiting school bus was a ritual in itself, with the neighbors from the nearby buildings looking forward to it. I had to be up for this challenge since I now was in the big league, I mean, first grade :-).<br /><br />It was a time of great adjustment with longer school hours which wasn’t that much fun to begin with; there were new uniforms that I loved – white half sleeve shirts, navy blue short trousers, and pure white canvas shoes and socks; then there were the new teachers, more classes, lots of daily homework, and exams too.<br /><br />One thing I will tell you about schools in India is that they are really competitive and crammed with schoolwork right from the beginning. It must have only gotten worse now.<br /><br />The school timings were from 9.30 am till 4 pm, with a 5 minute break at 11.25 am and lunch break from 1 pm to 1.45 pm. School ended at 4 pm and the school bus would drop me off by 4.30 pm at home.<br /><br />Most of the time, I would come home to the aroma of hot dosas (Indian crepes) being prepared by my mom. I used to eat the dosas with sugar and butter, or with coconut chutney. I loved dosas. In South Indian families dosa is a staple item to prepare during snack time, just as a peanut butter and jelly sandwich would be.<br /><br />Then it was time to go out and play with the few friends that I had at that time, mainly with a girl named Mala who I was fond of. She used to live in the same apartment building as we did, a level above us.<br /><br />There were a lot of children in our apartment building, which was great, but most of them were elder to me. There were others of similar age but their parents wouldn’t allow them to go out and play much, instead making them focus on their studies I suppose?<br /><br />After playing for a couple of hours, it was time to come back home at my mom’s beckoning for a shower and homework, dinner and then off to sleep. I would get quite an earful from my mom if I didn’t come back home in time.<br /><br />The one thing that was different with Don Bosco High School compared to other schools was that we used to get Thursdays off. The other catholic schools would have Saturdays off and the rest with no such weekly days off except Sundays. Due to this, it wasn’t much fun since I had no one to play with and as the years went by the homework would increase since we had a break mid-week.<br /><br />The biggest event during the year that I can’t ever forget was the war between India and Pakistan. Since I only had few lucid recollections of the same, I asked your uncle Krish to reminisce about it. He wrote this:<br /><br /><strong><span style="font-size:130%;color:#3333ff;">December 1971: War breaks out between India and Pakistan</span></strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><br /></span><strong><span style="color:#3333ff;">Government imposes black-outs in the evening</span></strong><br /></span><strong><br /></strong><span style="color:#3333ff;">Following the rules, we glued black paper on the windows, did not put on lights even late in the evening and through the night. Dinners used to be candle-lit, and at around 7pm.<br /><br />Appa used to come home pretty early. Once he was home, he would follow radio news intently and update all of us, and our neighbors, who somehow preferred to hang around in the building compound. Many would stand by our verandah and discuss the latest situation; we were in the ground floor, remember?<br /><br />Thankfully the war soon got over – it lasted around three weeks, if I remember correctly.<br /><br />Appa and amma were at their protective best, giving us courage and confidence that everything would be okay soon. We somehow needed that.<br /><br />You were very curious about what could go wrong, puzzled by the darkness all around, about the candle light. Appa and amma used to field your questions without scaring or worrying you.</span><br /><br /><span style="color:#3333ff;"><strong>When the sirens blared…<br /></strong><br />Families would step out on to the building compound, to escape easily in case an air raid caused a bomb to explode near the building and damage the building.<br /><br />We could see the bullets fired from Indian ack-ack guns (anti aircraft guns) to discourage Pakistan’s airplanes from coming near the city - the tracer bullets, a moving stream of red dotted lines against the dark night sky.<br /><br />Our hearts thumped – we used to stay indoors though; Appa still thought that safer, given that we were quite small and could get lost due the commotion outside.<br /></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">This was a scary time indeed for all of us.<br /><br />- Appa<br /></span><br /><br /><a href="http://www.mommyspiggytales.com/"><img src="http://i268.photobucket.com/albums/jj12/dcrdesign/mommys-piggy-tales-button.jpg" border="0" /></a>fizz-kidzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15976877380579034884noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8346590804840814193.post-31741153750605756632010-10-14T11:05:00.007-04:002010-10-14T17:06:13.797-04:00For Tvisha – My Pre K to Kindergarten Years<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhknwHbP9iwtJxrYqBXhSFvjgXTRv00_v10JMzwrFITAjBRphrIvFqwgY0ug2tlqbhxizb_EjaT-eDgjsMdxHxuwE4OtkCPEUf2ZJFUFozlATQn_eMkmYBRvvUXVSCwsBvZhmP7YJz-8EU/s1600/Sri1.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5527918160242630834" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 289px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhknwHbP9iwtJxrYqBXhSFvjgXTRv00_v10JMzwrFITAjBRphrIvFqwgY0ug2tlqbhxizb_EjaT-eDgjsMdxHxuwE4OtkCPEUf2ZJFUFozlATQn_eMkmYBRvvUXVSCwsBvZhmP7YJz-8EU/s400/Sri1.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div></div><br /><div></div><br /><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;"><em><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />(Appa, when he was just over a year old, with his mommy (your paati))</em></span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br />Hi Tvisha,<br /><br />This week I would like to tell you about my growing up years until the time I went to Pre K and Kindergarten school.<br /><br />I am not able to recollect most of that time, but do distinctly remember a few things that I want to share with you.<br /><br />I was considered to be very cute by my family members (like every child is :-)) and was everyone’s darling. For my Pre K, I was sent to Guru Nanak School that included all grades, right from Pre K to the 12th grade. Most schools in Bombay ran that format during the time. The only positive thing about this school was its proximity to the apartment building where we lived.<br /><br />I did not personally like this school very much, including some of the teachers. Now what I am going to tell you, I would strongly encourage that you never attempt to do if you are in a similar situation at any given time or place :-).<br /><br />It was and is a common practice in most schools in India where if a kid doesn’t listen to the teacher or doesn’t do his/her homework, or does something in class that isn’t considered desirable by the teacher, then he or she would get a nice caning from the teacher, or be asked to stand outside the class for the whole period, or even stand up on the bench during class, ha ha!<br /><br />There was this one teacher at Guru Nanak School who believed that, if the kids did not comply with her instructions, it was ok to reprimand them with a one-foot wooden measuring scale that she used to walk around in class with. She would ask the kid to stretch out his or her hand, and snap! came down the scale. It would be a stinging pain.<br /><br />I was once the recipient of this. I don’t know what happened to me that day, but after getting hit by her on my hands, I somehow managed to pull the scale from her and hit her back on her hands!<br /><br />Now that was a big no no, and caused a big uproar. My poor father was summoned to the principal’s office to hear the teacher’s complaint about this. Go figure, the teacher complaining about this after what she did to the kids?? :-)<br /><br />Anyway, by that time, my brother Krish whom you call Kitth had got admissions at the Don Bosco High School and it was decided that I follow suit, away from Guru Nanak School. I joined there for my Kindergarten.<br /><br />Don Bosco was a real nice school at that time, highly reputed. It was a private school, run by an Italian organization. The principal during that time was a fine Italian gentleman, Father Gaiety.<br /><br />What I still can’t forget about Father Gaiety was his tall and rotund structure in his white priest robe, with a silver and white receding hairline, and with his face, cheeks and nose so red, which is something that even Rudolf the reindeer would envy.<br /><br />Father Gaiety would walk around before school started daily welcoming the children to school, and would always surprise the kids with candy that would suddenly appear from his robe pocket. He always used to be Santa when our school celebrated Christmas, dressed up in a red suit with false beard and would hand out goodies to us. I loved Don Bosco High School.<br /><br />And then after school coming back home to a big joint family sharing a 360 square feet area was even more fun, given the number of people living together. The highlight of that time was my father (thaatha)’s own daddy, your great grandfather.<br /><br />Your great grandfather’s name was Krishna Iyer, but he used to be referred by one and all as Vaikkom Krishna Iyer. He was from Vaikkom, a small town in the southern part of India, in Kerala and a renowned and very highly regarded mridangam player of his time.<br /><br />After his prime, he joined my father in Bombay with his wife, my adorable grandmother, and was living with us even before I was born. Due to some problems with his knees, he couldn’t walk at all and was restricted to sitting/sleeping all day in a cot (pronounced/sounds like cuttle in our mother tongue, Tamil). To make matters convenient I think all family members and the other folks in our apartment building called him cuttle appa.<br /><br />With his passion for music still intact he used to hold music classes on a daily basis, teaching his elder son (my uncle) mridangam which is a percussion instrument from the earlier times in India, and his daughters (my aunts) the Veena, a beautiful sounding instrument that looked very similar to the Sitar. If one would think that the Sitar has a treble effect in its sound, I would say that the Veena had a bass effect in its sound. There were a lot of other kids in the building who used to learn Carnatic music (a form of music associated with the southern part of India), and other instruments.<br /><br />But, if you did not practice hard or concentrate, or have come without any preparations to his class, then hell would fall on you. He would get very angry and scold the students, and also cane them occasionally with a small stick. People used to be terrified of him during those times, as he was a very strict person. But he was a fantastic teacher for sure, going by the talent and skill levels I saw in my older years, in my uncle and my aunts while playing their instruments.<br /><br />I asked my father recently as to why he didn’t take any lessons from him. Thaatha sheepishly admitted that although he could easily recognize and understand what cuttle appa was teaching to the other students he was afraid of being scolded and hence decided not to learn music from him :-).<br /><br />But cuttle appa would never ever get angry with yours truly, and whenever I would stand at the end of the cot and ask him for some money to buy biscuits or candy, he would always pull out this huge pouch of his and hand me the money to go buy biscuits.<br /><br />It is really amazing that I am able to remember all of this about your great grandfather, as I was just over 3 years old when he passed away due to old age. He was in his 80s.<br /><br />Tvisha, I am glad that I was able to put down all of this while my memory of these events from that time is still fresh. I hope you enjoy reading them as much when you grow up.<br /><br />- Appa</span></div><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span></div><div></div><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://www.mommyspiggytales.com/"><img src="http://i268.photobucket.com/albums/jj12/dcrdesign/mommys-piggy-tales-button.jpg" border="0" /></a>fizz-kidzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15976877380579034884noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8346590804840814193.post-11378224073738416772010-10-07T10:26:00.004-04:002010-10-07T10:40:37.230-04:00For Tvisha - My Life As It Started<span style="font-family:verdana;">Tvisha, we all know that you were born in Manhattan New York, and mommy and appa (daddy) ‘picked you up’ from the ‘hostipal’ :-).<br /><br />Today appa is going to tell you all I know about how and where I was born, and how my parents arrived at my name.<br /><br />I was born in the town of Sion in Bombay (now called Mumbai), India on January 13, 1966 sometime early in the morning at the Rohini Merchant Hospital, a small and popular hospital at that time.<br /><br />The hospital was only a block away from the apartment we lived in. You have stayed at that apartment during your first visit ever to India in 2007 as a one year old baby.<br /><br />My mother (your paati) was admitted to the hospital the previous night, as instructed by the doctor. The doctor had indicated to my father (Sion Thaatha) that they might need to do a cesarean operation to get me out. So thaatha signed on the consent form and came back home.<br /><br />During those days, no one, including the daddy was allowed into the delivery room. When thaatha reached the hospital the next morning, the doctor confirmed that they would have to indeed do the cesarean procedure since I was a big baby. Thaatha said all right.<br /><br />After I was delivered, the doctor informed thaatha that everything went well, I was fine and being taken care of, and that paati was resting but still hadn’t come around. Being a very practical person, thaatha thought he wasn’t adding value being in the hospital, and took off to work!<br /><br />When he returned in the evening, paati gave him a dress down and fired him left, right and and center! I found this totally hilarious, although I very much realize her reasoning. Thaatha does feel today it was indeed very foolish on his part to have made that decision.<br /><br />Oh yes, by the way Tvisha, I was a celebrity at the hospital for a few days since I weighed 9.5 lbs, which was an all time record at the hospital at that time. Well, 9.5 lbs may not be all that big, but remember I was being compared to the average Indian baby :-).<br /><br />By tradition, in our culture back then, the first son takes his grandfather’s name from his daddy’s side, and the second son takes the name of the grandfather from his mommy’s side.<br /><br />Being that I was the second son, they gave me the name of paati’s father, Rama. My grandfather’s name was T. Rama Iyer.<br /><br />Paati felt that it would be very insulting to her daddy if she called me out by my name casually in his presence. So I went through a name change and ended up being called Sriram. Not a bad choice for a name, huh? :-)</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">- Appa<br /></span><br /><br /><a href="http://www.mommyspiggytales.com/"><img src="http://i268.photobucket.com/albums/jj12/dcrdesign/mommys-piggy-tales-button.jpg" border="0" /></a>fizz-kidzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15976877380579034884noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8346590804840814193.post-28901579981949658662010-10-05T12:55:00.001-04:002010-10-05T12:57:19.958-04:00Mommy's Piggy Tales<span style="font-family:verdana;">Hey all,</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">I am going to be participating in a 13 week session for Janna Antenorcruz who runs the wonderful blog <a href="http://www.mommyspiggytales.com/"><span style="color:#3366ff;">http://www.MommysPiggyTales.com</span></a>, where I will be writing about thoughts from my past, right from the time I was born until when I was a youth to serve as a memory for my daughter Tvisha.<br /></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">I think Janna has a very novel idea for her blog. By the way, anyone who wants to write their memories for their kids to read when they grow can join these writing sessions free, and post all these thoughts on their blog with a link to Janna’s site.<br /></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">See you soon,<br />Sri</span>fizz-kidzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15976877380579034884noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8346590804840814193.post-72379381195643597242010-09-20T21:37:00.011-04:002010-09-20T22:44:44.270-04:00Ganpati Bappa Moriya! 2010<span class="Apple-style-span">Wow! It has been over a year since I posted anything on this site. I had stopped contributing since I was finding it tough to think of topics to write about and I had my other food blogs to manage as well.</span><div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">But I have some commitments I need to meet and this is an apt time for me to bring this blog back to life.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">We just celebrated Ganesh Chaturthi at our house for a period of 1 1/2 days. My previous two posts from last year gives details for those who would like to learn more about this wonderful festival.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">We has around 40 people in all who joined us in celebrating the birthday of Lord Ganesha. The kids and the adults included had a great time. Pooja was followed by devotional songs sung by a few of our friends. After that we had a sumptuous feast. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">We had planned some activities for all the kids to make sure that they got a refresher course of their culture, religion and festivities. On the to do list for them was making Ganpati idols with play doh, coloring a Ganpati image, lots of stories read by the elders to increase awareness about Lord Ganesha, and a fun game where we blindfolded the kids and they had to place a modak made of play doh correctly on the trunk of Lord Ganesha.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">The adults got a chance to seek blessings and also hang out and catch up with each other after a while.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">This day reminded me a lot of how we used to celebrate this festival years ago in India at home as well as in our apartment complex with our family, and friends with lots of events and activities daily for 10 days.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">Well, if not 10 days, we at least were able to celebrate for a day and a half, for which I am very happy. I am sharing some pictures from the event below. </span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjW4823HfSD5kr6y230lR49cPprquinP6A2YbIv2TIEKO5zpibVEkJbLVu-JawOl4BWplVyaz5p4rMUe9oICkslWKH2gtl59iVFd6eYppEd_rLdKcsvAgUQQtDR0kDr3ADOIOdphF8MV3Y/s1600/DSC01384.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjW4823HfSD5kr6y230lR49cPprquinP6A2YbIv2TIEKO5zpibVEkJbLVu-JawOl4BWplVyaz5p4rMUe9oICkslWKH2gtl59iVFd6eYppEd_rLdKcsvAgUQQtDR0kDr3ADOIOdphF8MV3Y/s400/DSC01384.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5519187134237162178" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-ipWlt60BY6c0UeqQGuk3F5BjMFmwfEGxNdtIUOHlEpD5ntFbr9OFhHvf2v9pcp2LHfbPQtguU6IvmOXV8AJ-kD7HN2rQdO5l2brSKJ9O2Z57wELeGQvN-CFG7rieGd1sqwJ04tWgbvk/s1600/DSC01387.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-ipWlt60BY6c0UeqQGuk3F5BjMFmwfEGxNdtIUOHlEpD5ntFbr9OFhHvf2v9pcp2LHfbPQtguU6IvmOXV8AJ-kD7HN2rQdO5l2brSKJ9O2Z57wELeGQvN-CFG7rieGd1sqwJ04tWgbvk/s400/DSC01387.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5519187128638565266" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5LJgTLAGhuU-cR5IUQF0uBy-oBS5plkv8x3HZo68VhwuZl5aST6EI47M_PsvuAZzy1O9aKAiHl4-JuoeOigXZ_J0XvRIXxJglgGegB6acnev7Tft_MPmf4pHNHAJxi1mw4nrDfh_062w/s1600/DSC01388.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5LJgTLAGhuU-cR5IUQF0uBy-oBS5plkv8x3HZo68VhwuZl5aST6EI47M_PsvuAZzy1O9aKAiHl4-JuoeOigXZ_J0XvRIXxJglgGegB6acnev7Tft_MPmf4pHNHAJxi1mw4nrDfh_062w/s400/DSC01388.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5519187117794112018" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLDs0eQUU2rcJRuSJPKIO0l3SvXWY-uDY-DLH4tkplA_Pqvg9M8oW9BpVF9d5eHtZ1ebExcDA9qpGizZl-WMvS-VjCNaFiNc65DjhXYfBb7uu8j_T4f72iRaB3sCh_vf7MKe-eI6Wh0DQ/s1600/DSC01391.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLDs0eQUU2rcJRuSJPKIO0l3SvXWY-uDY-DLH4tkplA_Pqvg9M8oW9BpVF9d5eHtZ1ebExcDA9qpGizZl-WMvS-VjCNaFiNc65DjhXYfBb7uu8j_T4f72iRaB3sCh_vf7MKe-eI6Wh0DQ/s400/DSC01391.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5519187116708214674" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjE7EOz5yOTwuw-EwepiysTgOqmGv4xNtZvRODhaJqlWfJMhU_iqsU38A0JaMK6nZm_o1aUgSATzM8ZCeNIvAiC0FnLHwVavOh_bGmLejFHCHAKGk9T1DrwAXC3RX1-MwvhPONa_yd7hd4/s1600/DSC01394.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjE7EOz5yOTwuw-EwepiysTgOqmGv4xNtZvRODhaJqlWfJMhU_iqsU38A0JaMK6nZm_o1aUgSATzM8ZCeNIvAiC0FnLHwVavOh_bGmLejFHCHAKGk9T1DrwAXC3RX1-MwvhPONa_yd7hd4/s400/DSC01394.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5519187112305092050" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOSu1owSEIQDbtK_Ngu1c1-zOP_N3QSfwjgcxjKsDi3Zw9OOjr62JKt3HA2FAKi8wzd_7Ey8N0HMgBj5BTRRPyZvqpZxgihyphenhyphencoHGeVQ2qWOZ1Dpg8j9F33NJup4W4URXBhPrRJ_hmXNJI/s1600/DSC01406.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOSu1owSEIQDbtK_Ngu1c1-zOP_N3QSfwjgcxjKsDi3Zw9OOjr62JKt3HA2FAKi8wzd_7Ey8N0HMgBj5BTRRPyZvqpZxgihyphenhyphencoHGeVQ2qWOZ1Dpg8j9F33NJup4W4URXBhPrRJ_hmXNJI/s400/DSC01406.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5519186768465613378" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0X27l9clwEys0_YWCnVua4e4H0aoBaNkSDlWglVHDX-rMVIWsZ6ALV_J-U1a1DiUjt9z9k56azm8x8y7SHrD7WXNXgalIYXfqiwUhkvOTQmsr-OilPjK6F_zgYHLxxhpjWWs6wnTy9s8/s1600/DSC01407.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0X27l9clwEys0_YWCnVua4e4H0aoBaNkSDlWglVHDX-rMVIWsZ6ALV_J-U1a1DiUjt9z9k56azm8x8y7SHrD7WXNXgalIYXfqiwUhkvOTQmsr-OilPjK6F_zgYHLxxhpjWWs6wnTy9s8/s400/DSC01407.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5519186764583589426" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrpDFNV8hz_bFlXEagCcFmHiFV6jIp4v4q_iofK93AXFnbS7bdKJmqemqqZmo0CGaznahcjFGmAqh2NCFrf46_vOEAOxbcodsAdwOz_HLtks4S2O1L8AHtDWTKdEh4ECYBzT2quhTAeN8/s1600/DSC01408.JPG"><img style="display:block; 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margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdjgQ10kqWWFLq4r5ZBygG96DiErLIb0fgF0xbxeykIZi1CUc2Wjk1Af9hokBOPQrb1SrwPwtBKRdlHyhhm_1ypyxdUrSF9n9VQiiNfzgLBLMYn-W_Sw4nu9lNSmyKzxcD2b5IosMwvOs/s400/DSC01413.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5519186496635599554" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZB5EBCRW8ECMV0kc6NvraBmg_W6hRTV6c6FwTthE3KNixkjv9alOpCqcEdwQC1IT_Rs0ogPqj3FgLHJyXZ1wfA6j9aXicAbb4RBkNnq5uK-6YRFrpJiXx5iLd8PoZHgRhV-EtyNBCd44/s1600/DSC01414.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZB5EBCRW8ECMV0kc6NvraBmg_W6hRTV6c6FwTthE3KNixkjv9alOpCqcEdwQC1IT_Rs0ogPqj3FgLHJyXZ1wfA6j9aXicAbb4RBkNnq5uK-6YRFrpJiXx5iLd8PoZHgRhV-EtyNBCd44/s400/DSC01414.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5519186491152004530" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZhATAMXxT8FvikNR2SVX5iRBtfa5xXsFBQkEVyZHRoyEgDdyj80pGXM50vMoD6ngNFTI6Xri_on37RNn30ryt2RTqA60vjp_RFfZSLjPUlnSRRiqWvaoBJG-GQd050-SvZkF_hFTE6iw/s1600/DSC01415.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZhATAMXxT8FvikNR2SVX5iRBtfa5xXsFBQkEVyZHRoyEgDdyj80pGXM50vMoD6ngNFTI6Xri_on37RNn30ryt2RTqA60vjp_RFfZSLjPUlnSRRiqWvaoBJG-GQd050-SvZkF_hFTE6iw/s400/DSC01415.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5519186486717509986" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7M_vET4WOylb8XN-w91qEgpXba0jRUzTiJhykTO4IYqPosHBpuDYxta6oim_KPgsJbZYz-E6J95i_zKWxtfAudwokOOZLA7hjFFXBpUXDvZZuBWMwxcBFv0E2fbzdjaYtMR_BsvEkeO0/s1600/DSC01419.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7M_vET4WOylb8XN-w91qEgpXba0jRUzTiJhykTO4IYqPosHBpuDYxta6oim_KPgsJbZYz-E6J95i_zKWxtfAudwokOOZLA7hjFFXBpUXDvZZuBWMwxcBFv0E2fbzdjaYtMR_BsvEkeO0/s400/DSC01419.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5519186479801242386" /></a><br /></div></div>fizz-kidzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15976877380579034884noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8346590804840814193.post-84475560205494596222009-08-30T22:29:00.006-04:002009-08-30T22:44:52.156-04:00Ganpati Bappa Moriya!<div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:verdana;font-size:13px;">During Ganesh Chaturthi, Bombay becomes a huge festival land, with ten days of lights and decorations in every nook and corner of the city. Well, almost.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:Verdana;font-size:13px;"><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">What used to be real fun in my childhood days was when we used to get together on day 1 when the idol is 'brought in' and day 10 especially, which is the day of immersion, to see in awe idols of different kinds of shapes and height pass by the street where we lived. </span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">The idols were led by a huge procession of people dancing in rhythm to the beats played pompously by their respective music band groups especially hired for the occasion. Different areas in the city competed against each other and still do as to who had the tallest idol and what kind of decorations were conceived and displayed. </span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">There were and still are unwritten agreements as to whose idol will have the right to leave first or last for the immersion, etc. There are easily millions of people who come out to the streets on day 10, the immersion day, in order to view the huge idols that are brought to the sea to be immersed. The offices close early on that day, and the city comes virtually to a stand still for several hours due to traffic of all kinds - people, idols in processions and vehicles, with the police having a nightmare of a time trying to keep things in order. For people who are not from Bombay, I have included this link I found on YouTube, just so that people can comprehend what I just wrote regarding the significance of day 10 </span><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zs3417fl32Y&feature=related" style="color: rgb(85, 26, 139); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zs3417fl32Y&feature=related</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> (this is just when this famous idol is being brought out for the immersion journey).</span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">During the celebrations when people gather to get a glimpse of the God, lines can be so long that they have to wait easily for 7-8 hours to get their blessings. </span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">In my childhood days, there used be a lot of apartment buildings that celebrated the festival with great aplomb. My apartment building used to do it as well and we celebrated it for all of the 10 days. There would be daily poojas, and at least one daily event - a performance by the talented women who lived in the building, or calling in the magician etc.; fantastic sweets and other savories were cooked everyday as offering to the God; and when night set in one could walk around the neighborhood and catch a select choice of movies being shown on the streets, by tying a screen in the middle of the street and people sitting on the sidewalks, on the street itself on either side of the screen, and from their apartments to watch the movie. Gone are those days now.</span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">On specific days my friends, families included used to go around the city to see the most famous idols. In order to get in by avoiding the queue, we had to make 'special' arrangements with 'known' people :-), with whose help we would be whisked away through the rear side of a building and come out right next to the idol displayed.</span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">I really miss the celebrations back home for the fun we had, the social aspect of it, how it made Bombay livelier than it always is for 10 days, and the festive atmosphere. Not to forget the food and the late night movies. I still try and visit India during Ganesh Chaturthi time whenever feasible. </span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Ganesh Chaturthi Celebrations here in the US:</span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">W</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">e decided to celebrate Ganesh Chaturthi this year at home, keeping the idol for 1 day. We had our friends living close by come over for pooja. We did aarti and sang a few bhajans.</span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "> </div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">This was followed by a potluck feast. The dishes that were prepared included modak (rice dough steamed with coconut and jaggery mix - Ganesha's favorite sweet), Karanji (made with fried all purpose flour puffs stuffed with coconut, sugar, semolina and ghee), srikhand, tamarind rice, potatoes, black eyed peas usal, and usli (made with green beans and pulses). I will post the recipe for some of these dishes on my other blog, </span><a href="http://www.bigsrisfood.com/" style="color: rgb(85, 26, 139); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">www.bigsrisfood.com</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">.</span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "> </div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">After lunch, we had a few activities for the kids (four of them, including my daughter). We read to them Ganesha stories so that they could become familiar with the God and the celebration, and the symbolism of Ganesha. Then we had all of them sit down and make a puppet of an elephant. Finally the mommies got together with the kids and helped them make their own Ganeshas with play doh, which was very cool. I have taken pictures of the same. </span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "> </div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">The kids had a lot of fun and so did we. A great day spent with friends and family, and on a festival so near and dear to all of us. Here are pictures from the event.<br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></div><div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4bbUBH1VLGkvQlKJoCueNZ7zroHxsp5nx1zGFFnYO03eE-GAGuqCFIYGucemWAsY40b-CAl8Qk13wXqkWGaKEf2XvWTpD9oBPA11b3Byt13K0MtL0vo7oGmHGx5gHGk-Rq5UGTYI-F38/s1600-h/DSC_0021-1.jpg"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4bbUBH1VLGkvQlKJoCueNZ7zroHxsp5nx1zGFFnYO03eE-GAGuqCFIYGucemWAsY40b-CAl8Qk13wXqkWGaKEf2XvWTpD9oBPA11b3Byt13K0MtL0vo7oGmHGx5gHGk-Rq5UGTYI-F38/s400/DSC_0021-1.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5375950224496701458" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 265px; height: 400px; " /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqyk4XoyaqOTotDtnCVdYdUtm6bmZxmCmhYWbsA8k-GnYFxQrTkUpdz1YbgGywtCXtBeiuDgPOX1WfrkwOhU5hEambFkMRyct5kqmF5iPb4pKu2N0YIqY2UIPG1aznXXCS3ySNJF1XSV8/s1600-h/DSC_0023-1.jpg"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqyk4XoyaqOTotDtnCVdYdUtm6bmZxmCmhYWbsA8k-GnYFxQrTkUpdz1YbgGywtCXtBeiuDgPOX1WfrkwOhU5hEambFkMRyct5kqmF5iPb4pKu2N0YIqY2UIPG1aznXXCS3ySNJF1XSV8/s400/DSC_0023-1.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5375950223982425826" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 265px; " /></a><div style="text-align: left; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#0000EE;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="text-decoration: underline; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></span></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtQ-xr8JYNWia5N6kBld-1bjAC6UzUs6bU_LbAaUzP5bVkb65hGfBEvPYcywTCu4bvb80KhrEEn4CfUs39LcJTt3HW6zlUUYcvVJqZq5QK6V3grmaejn_HkJ5lV7ywPF_1hKjlvI2Z0zw/s1600-h/DSC_0046-1.jpg"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtQ-xr8JYNWia5N6kBld-1bjAC6UzUs6bU_LbAaUzP5bVkb65hGfBEvPYcywTCu4bvb80KhrEEn4CfUs39LcJTt3HW6zlUUYcvVJqZq5QK6V3grmaejn_HkJ5lV7ywPF_1hKjlvI2Z0zw/s400/DSC_0046-1.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5375950210231069266" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 265px; height: 400px; " /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhglXdi4ZYjgeB0P9LKMYFL3vW-e794N8oEat7GDerMCz5A3tEMnGSqwy-CGvs49V5OEQ8d0B67mbZEOnxvj47yamoiExqClw9XPxSf01yQKBg8poQNVeq8I-IJ-5vMHYliCaKu6cwtZ7w/s1600-h/DSC_0049-1.jpg"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhglXdi4ZYjgeB0P9LKMYFL3vW-e794N8oEat7GDerMCz5A3tEMnGSqwy-CGvs49V5OEQ8d0B67mbZEOnxvj47yamoiExqClw9XPxSf01yQKBg8poQNVeq8I-IJ-5vMHYliCaKu6cwtZ7w/s400/DSC_0049-1.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5375949815629440786" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 265px; " /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhe7P30Ai3t7o1-XJo6X22CLrvd3QwlvIP-4TrKvCWPCVqSBt0lUp0-9hyphenhyphenN14JwAvqMeMz5ZFtgureKLyFU3V1eDVnD9mtrAFoJvuBfd0Z8sjpNrNV6Us49sKvf2mXw80hsGZYNlCMLYt4/s1600-h/DSC_0079-1.jpg"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhe7P30Ai3t7o1-XJo6X22CLrvd3QwlvIP-4TrKvCWPCVqSBt0lUp0-9hyphenhyphenN14JwAvqMeMz5ZFtgureKLyFU3V1eDVnD9mtrAFoJvuBfd0Z8sjpNrNV6Us49sKvf2mXw80hsGZYNlCMLYt4/s400/DSC_0079-1.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5375949807422320338" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 265px; " /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIy9JgHwscB5cSf3gtFnc2D9d9doRxWYsjpD3gL-9FZBS5JRR6ZB-ISezuSLde6V0jnz2uAEiCXyxFBmxRqzr0So9rC1Spfzdzlftr2CAsrrIufQwN_3xUEDQq-vXLc7VKE_hjKp-lJ5k/s1600-h/DSC_0085-1.jpg"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIy9JgHwscB5cSf3gtFnc2D9d9doRxWYsjpD3gL-9FZBS5JRR6ZB-ISezuSLde6V0jnz2uAEiCXyxFBmxRqzr0So9rC1Spfzdzlftr2CAsrrIufQwN_3xUEDQq-vXLc7VKE_hjKp-lJ5k/s400/DSC_0085-1.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5375949800151711106" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 265px; " /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbyTpAu4BYuVPcQJfPNlDtmX-v6CxpEEkxyF3rEZ_GLnxIfQLkz2gDSg6I60h_Bi_UplMBnY5Q15HKm8mdZTpcuChFVQGg3U-gCO2d1cQ-H-t3y_U9vJTITO-_uzxEx2yed64-Uc6mR8U/s1600-h/DSC_0087-1.jpg"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbyTpAu4BYuVPcQJfPNlDtmX-v6CxpEEkxyF3rEZ_GLnxIfQLkz2gDSg6I60h_Bi_UplMBnY5Q15HKm8mdZTpcuChFVQGg3U-gCO2d1cQ-H-t3y_U9vJTITO-_uzxEx2yed64-Uc6mR8U/s400/DSC_0087-1.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5375949794323844450" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 265px; " /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3FdidyeWuEYFqAaPtnEHpOjwqkNNm-BtKDFGyTdg-yEFOAaoo_B-i6q26cyxQT1QM59YouQ8mmvk0FAhQRk7HAyB5AJ7LuS4Gu8Nn1i1EmRhnIdWtQMgXIrV0IFdFcR7PwV-zzHOYn2w/s1600-h/DSC_0090-1.jpg"></a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3FdidyeWuEYFqAaPtnEHpOjwqkNNm-BtKDFGyTdg-yEFOAaoo_B-i6q26cyxQT1QM59YouQ8mmvk0FAhQRk7HAyB5AJ7LuS4Gu8Nn1i1EmRhnIdWtQMgXIrV0IFdFcR7PwV-zzHOYn2w/s1600-h/DSC_0090-1.jpg"></a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3FdidyeWuEYFqAaPtnEHpOjwqkNNm-BtKDFGyTdg-yEFOAaoo_B-i6q26cyxQT1QM59YouQ8mmvk0FAhQRk7HAyB5AJ7LuS4Gu8Nn1i1EmRhnIdWtQMgXIrV0IFdFcR7PwV-zzHOYn2w/s1600-h/DSC_0090-1.jpg"></a></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh23CrMCbQtpKtD4_IHZpQ3AsUjQhzhXvF37xq92iVIiTEbs7aBrd7xyao2ktrHvObD1j_6gwd6BuRU9B9b-hHr_z65fQrqF2PyOsny3JL7KNPV9sAfp_DvmpqI_aN9R4WI48rYa-LrgRA/s400/DSC_0090-1.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5375952075337899202" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 265px; " /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:13px;"><br /></span></span></div></div></span></div>fizz-kidzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15976877380579034884noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8346590804840814193.post-19928178428178639672009-08-27T22:22:00.007-04:002009-08-27T22:42:06.098-04:00Ganesh Chaturthi - a few thoughts<div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:Verdana;font-size:13px;">I had asked my dad to pen a few words on this occasion. Here's what he sent.</span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:Verdana;font-size:13px;"><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Ganesh Chaturthi is a festival celebrating the birthday of Lord Ganesha which is conducted in a unique manner. There is a rare blend of domestic celebration and public festivity. </span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">The idol of Lord Ganesha is brought home every year on the day of </span><a id="jz-5" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaturthi" title="Chathurti" style="color: rgb(85, 26, 139); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Chaturthi</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">, worshiped and taken for immersion on certain auspicious days between the 2nd and 10th day. This is done to the accompaniment of singing, dancing, and other expressions of joy.</span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Alongside this, there are the Sarvajanik (public) Ganpatis - the giant sized idols that are installed all over the city. The devotees queue up for hours together to have a darshan (beholding of the deity) of the Lord. The immersion of these idols is a grand affair, with thousands of people thronging the streets, dancing and singing.</span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Why is Ganpati so popular and why is there a joyous celebration every year? It may appear to be a paradox for many people that the idol which is so joyously worshiped is immersed into the sea after a few days.</span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">In my past (1940s), Ganesh Chaturthi was celebrated solely because it is Ganpati's birthday. Idols were made out of clay and worshiped and immersed the following day in a well. The idol wasn't kept for a longer period because of the fear that the idol was likely to break, which is considered inauspicious. </span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">During the course of time the festival took also a social hue, and side by side with the domestic worship, the public celebrations also became popular. The size of the idols grew and the idols also required a large place like the sea for immersion. </span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">The various names by which the God is worshiped are a reflection of his closeness to us and importance. Most significantly he has to be worshiped first at any puja (ceremonial worship) or religious function. We start learning the alphabet by invoking his name first. No wonder this festival has won the heart of the people and this God is sent off with the request to return fast the following year.</span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">- Contributed by K. Sivaramakrishnan</span></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">My brother had sent me some pictures he had taken in 2007 when he went to see one of the most famous idols' immersion procession. This was a 25 feet baby Ganesha idol installed at Ganesh Galli, Lalbaug, Bombay India. Here are a few pictures for your enjoyment.</span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:Georgia;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIX5Xln6pcimNtZJZhDG29oi3sNowxDWiLY0-KP1EKimqT11brtZssfBsf2wOwsOyOk7bhfHpltn__-W7hB1AWbDYTD1ixiRP74VhQKgiNeLbEq5mMcG21Q-MSwyffBtjM2iNkruiMjew/s1600-h/DSC00374.JPG"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIX5Xln6pcimNtZJZhDG29oi3sNowxDWiLY0-KP1EKimqT11brtZssfBsf2wOwsOyOk7bhfHpltn__-W7hB1AWbDYTD1ixiRP74VhQKgiNeLbEq5mMcG21Q-MSwyffBtjM2iNkruiMjew/s400/DSC00374.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5374837550887882498" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px; " /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikKbTEbAjtPE0KdCFUrlYxHkBYC8hcLckmmkNXEtyKDwhS9BBgLPv6S-zCyJkAwnn3f1YGS2GjGxkmkbHpRWph7gywN9BEr-yueaO_Pvpx81iJ8KHmuFJGpF7Rie7Gq9ZOanT2ViM6nKc/s1600-h/DSC00378.JPG"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikKbTEbAjtPE0KdCFUrlYxHkBYC8hcLckmmkNXEtyKDwhS9BBgLPv6S-zCyJkAwnn3f1YGS2GjGxkmkbHpRWph7gywN9BEr-yueaO_Pvpx81iJ8KHmuFJGpF7Rie7Gq9ZOanT2ViM6nKc/s400/DSC00378.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5374837543498323602" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px; " /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9tWAF1pnlalfgCgL-63gRhGt_DcUSgVOZv3slRubIJbNmYtaHCGB2yaodQJKTJWu-OzRBJmjRxSh9WO9YdJJ3WKVICFjpMKRrQgB1lPyXbJKlNQmX24HzmEgsxZk0Mz7glQMNkdi5OkA/s1600-h/DSC00383.JPG"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9tWAF1pnlalfgCgL-63gRhGt_DcUSgVOZv3slRubIJbNmYtaHCGB2yaodQJKTJWu-OzRBJmjRxSh9WO9YdJJ3WKVICFjpMKRrQgB1lPyXbJKlNQmX24HzmEgsxZk0Mz7glQMNkdi5OkA/s400/DSC00383.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5374837536204178834" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 400px; " /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj96x0Tbd-1v6R8HLHy7-B74J1clSFBDpiTEkOlKRYke12LMXnH_8iK2K7PbD0WTJFzkzWwX_cwf-jETds0-J68CKHmIAIXAwpK40D3_BxwTi-AgVRVbC0rQqEGdQkwDWFwjCr3bT_SAjg/s1600-h/DSC00387.JPG"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj96x0Tbd-1v6R8HLHy7-B74J1clSFBDpiTEkOlKRYke12LMXnH_8iK2K7PbD0WTJFzkzWwX_cwf-jETds0-J68CKHmIAIXAwpK40D3_BxwTi-AgVRVbC0rQqEGdQkwDWFwjCr3bT_SAjg/s400/DSC00387.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5374837528380877522" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px; " /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsBKEDl8uICvKP-jgySFKGmpG-2ElnYoaQGfQ9-mVz1DIsPm5eGLCf-RkCvQj49wROC4Fo3kFpKdvqPUJHCNc-wWtnT5pH2dqgRDEWtyEVSvc4HUY7gmIXjgMvybNyat33sVyobiAoLhU/s1600-h/DSC00396.JPG"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsBKEDl8uICvKP-jgySFKGmpG-2ElnYoaQGfQ9-mVz1DIsPm5eGLCf-RkCvQj49wROC4Fo3kFpKdvqPUJHCNc-wWtnT5pH2dqgRDEWtyEVSvc4HUY7gmIXjgMvybNyat33sVyobiAoLhU/s400/DSC00396.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5374837526765075890" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px; " /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgae99iTil2GcS1NQyLKvkAnXAIkUXScbVrdChwiGfV_z2lCDDVYcuh21m4-iXAmDtms6IujkgYOd183Syz2tBMaMZztWZqY-z7DmCrS12aZr4Dp0t9-GwYcFh6JRy52vR-8PI1ztCw0-M/s1600-h/DSC00406.JPG"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgae99iTil2GcS1NQyLKvkAnXAIkUXScbVrdChwiGfV_z2lCDDVYcuh21m4-iXAmDtms6IujkgYOd183Syz2tBMaMZztWZqY-z7DmCrS12aZr4Dp0t9-GwYcFh6JRy52vR-8PI1ztCw0-M/s400/DSC00406.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5374837236660407154" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 400px; " /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizLenY3_Dik2QnD8WyXNfHmwjx4o1Y_901Wqe7XLhEpN5zO5gpK7OInaI8YLV8OBxJ7bQ2hv_eLtQMHvcJiTQtdHett8CQ9PgzIgh-0zQ-xUa5mM54xGt8KnApLs5H_oyFrnkaOGZg0Pk/s1600-h/DSC00421.JPG"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizLenY3_Dik2QnD8WyXNfHmwjx4o1Y_901Wqe7XLhEpN5zO5gpK7OInaI8YLV8OBxJ7bQ2hv_eLtQMHvcJiTQtdHett8CQ9PgzIgh-0zQ-xUa5mM54xGt8KnApLs5H_oyFrnkaOGZg0Pk/s400/DSC00421.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5374837229737268082" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 400px; " /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyJlPBqsyvO2lY_fpndIWOKpwMO-Zh0yP70KYWDNkTtd40gPj92tn8C9nqHxw1e1ca2D6viG-GankdrNabrS5zLyFSTorhmOv29P84xLEPF6YQJvt6CbU8acXaoTKQWEAlWFSA9U_-F10/s1600-h/DSC00429.JPG" style="text-decoration: none;"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyJlPBqsyvO2lY_fpndIWOKpwMO-Zh0yP70KYWDNkTtd40gPj92tn8C9nqHxw1e1ca2D6viG-GankdrNabrS5zLyFSTorhmOv29P84xLEPF6YQJvt6CbU8acXaoTKQWEAlWFSA9U_-F10/s400/DSC00429.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5374837219745809938" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 400px; " /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoMLuCc14lfASoiut80kas70QGsWzTzCEfR1vjodVFSdB5rN7UvV1xXWvNp2Lq16-j-l3rvxqgwlLljIVIPRcKDoNZGmY8tM5ABpgZHL9Cx6vLF9yEzLIDpITuTLRYZVNtvIc_zzgJzM4/s1600-h/DSC00435.JPG"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoMLuCc14lfASoiut80kas70QGsWzTzCEfR1vjodVFSdB5rN7UvV1xXWvNp2Lq16-j-l3rvxqgwlLljIVIPRcKDoNZGmY8tM5ABpgZHL9Cx6vLF9yEzLIDpITuTLRYZVNtvIc_zzgJzM4/s400/DSC00435.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5374837205701398146" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 400px; " /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><div style="text-align: center;">Ganesh Galli Lalbaug above</div></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPj6VTDsGKkj9yP7oCovqV9ahOosxqSesIKXtmoJPRPtt7HEIaW3Sz2N0-iEOp4-eXkrVmwMSh6tMM-sC6G8v-U6UAWe3NpA_HinIIFEwS5kWtfuQnw5I6hHjRj9_dQzMIwBMFifgMhas/s1600-h/DSC00446.JPG"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPj6VTDsGKkj9yP7oCovqV9ahOosxqSesIKXtmoJPRPtt7HEIaW3Sz2N0-iEOp4-eXkrVmwMSh6tMM-sC6G8v-U6UAWe3NpA_HinIIFEwS5kWtfuQnw5I6hHjRj9_dQzMIwBMFifgMhas/s400/DSC00446.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5374837202295838338" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 400px; " /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span><div style="text-align: center; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#0000EE;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></span></span></div></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><br /></div></div></span>fizz-kidzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15976877380579034884noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8346590804840814193.post-38351879451037504012009-08-26T17:17:00.004-04:002009-08-26T17:23:35.357-04:00Penguins on the loose!<div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">That's what we thought we would see, as I promised my daughter Tvisha a few weeks ago that we would go out to see penguins whom she loves, and see a movie on animals called </span><a id="fm_4" href="http://www.animalopolisfilm.com/index.html" title="Animalopolis"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Animalopolis</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">. This is part of the program schedule at the </span><a id="e2bs" href="http://www.maritimeaquarium.org/home.html" title="Maritime Acquarium" style="color: rgb(85, 26, 139); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Maritime Aquarium</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> in Norwalk, CT until labor day September 6, 2009.</span></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:Verdana;font-size:13px;"><div style="text-align: left;margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The Maritime Aquarium is a nice place to take your kids to. They have exhibits of seals with seal feeding shows 3 times a day, penguins of course, sea horses, frogs, stingrays, sharks, and different kind of fish. They conduct special programs for the summer such as this one with the penguins that we went to. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">There is an IMAX theater for those who want to take their kids to watch movies, and also a nice shaded picnic area in case you pack your own lunch. Oh, before I forget, there is also a public cruise.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">We enjoyed the animal movie that lasted 40 minutes. After lunch, by the time we got to the penguin show the place was packed. There isn't any good vantage point to see the penguins unless you get there around 12.45 pm for the 1.15 pm show. Now that's long time to stand at one place waiting for the action to begin while your kid is getting more and more impatient. On top of that it was only 'a' penguin that they brought out of the ten they have, which was a bummer! </span></div><div style="text-align: left;margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The whole package does put a dent in your pockets considering all that you get. Total $50 bucks for the movie and aquarium for a family of 3, and extra for the other stuff you may get. Make sure to spend a good part of the day at the aquarium as there is a lot to see and do.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Over all, it was good to be out with the family and see my daughter happy, which is always the bottom line. Here are some pictures that I was able to take.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><br /></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 16px; "><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgU3Wjts9VqDOogR1Cy7p_K8jd9hyphenhyphenL7Sf2LE59xAAwoH1CozmEu5QD_QODDHkOH-SeyCt0gOCyCIs-gHofzU0daDUBMfoQ259V0ovA7if6tpx41v3WZGCUWQSvqtCsgwcAKB1AVmFWnPiQ/s1600-h/DSC_0478.jpg"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgU3Wjts9VqDOogR1Cy7p_K8jd9hyphenhyphenL7Sf2LE59xAAwoH1CozmEu5QD_QODDHkOH-SeyCt0gOCyCIs-gHofzU0daDUBMfoQ259V0ovA7if6tpx41v3WZGCUWQSvqtCsgwcAKB1AVmFWnPiQ/s320/DSC_0478.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5374385789312845906" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 212px; " /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEio_uSEhl3l3xV8sTv2hlyT1MwXTGNf9TKtBdYfs5sM13_RI4sP33-4RVYDuQz5l_N_YG9KrkXAXPzSiwUkW3sRG4uVpvSD0TvLMfJdwJeYhfT-how1n97KTzmgVsBqT4egGkBV8_6W4rA/s1600-h/DSC_0500.jpg"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEio_uSEhl3l3xV8sTv2hlyT1MwXTGNf9TKtBdYfs5sM13_RI4sP33-4RVYDuQz5l_N_YG9KrkXAXPzSiwUkW3sRG4uVpvSD0TvLMfJdwJeYhfT-how1n97KTzmgVsBqT4egGkBV8_6W4rA/s320/DSC_0500.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5374385647866741314" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 212px; " /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2Ey-Fsj_srmQ2wiQA-uLb7U6WYKiTLQ6D0rvTr5yF6zIV9K8Lu-LoSzghFIIwVf3Ark-BcmBOtZxkLxGXu8walHnPyQdfulQiXWsn6Q2TBoOWUjdpdLu40hJRvLnJaIKkNoXT_9c8UGo/s1600-h/DSC_0501.jpg"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2Ey-Fsj_srmQ2wiQA-uLb7U6WYKiTLQ6D0rvTr5yF6zIV9K8Lu-LoSzghFIIwVf3Ark-BcmBOtZxkLxGXu8walHnPyQdfulQiXWsn6Q2TBoOWUjdpdLu40hJRvLnJaIKkNoXT_9c8UGo/s320/DSC_0501.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5374385643448427202" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 212px; " /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsf2u20QZQMB9US8Dbr-RVzaI-kQxpladxgW4ZwbZXSM17YKXAp7CqdbaJmk1E9RXW4MfFnbcUa6qPofzSnZ6ODpEcgGiJyuVWcfUM94mcLUhg2Gv6KQ1ReVDxC4HzoktSq7rKd4ysTTY/s1600-h/DSC_0515.jpg"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsf2u20QZQMB9US8Dbr-RVzaI-kQxpladxgW4ZwbZXSM17YKXAp7CqdbaJmk1E9RXW4MfFnbcUa6qPofzSnZ6ODpEcgGiJyuVWcfUM94mcLUhg2Gv6KQ1ReVDxC4HzoktSq7rKd4ysTTY/s320/DSC_0515.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5374385628216711330" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 212px; " /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDtW9Ow-DbFhfklDPtHpIAkzq3nWR4mdvh237RxSgzKifbsYQt8lJG9wwT11ioHLHhy-nGxezdZAoO3usRjKKBetdcFbLv7H8pTNXwUM0l49wLRRpKX2qMWEV3rgQ16tqeBmgi2snyaKw/s1600-h/DSC_0520.jpg"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDtW9Ow-DbFhfklDPtHpIAkzq3nWR4mdvh237RxSgzKifbsYQt8lJG9wwT11ioHLHhy-nGxezdZAoO3usRjKKBetdcFbLv7H8pTNXwUM0l49wLRRpKX2qMWEV3rgQ16tqeBmgi2snyaKw/s320/DSC_0520.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5374385626924861618" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 212px; " /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjD3ZPrH29KM1eKPxkNpa24GjDQRo4R8epwKwJ8KhgOH-Gg8Le8e_DK86Irts-Pwe3YnqCBvhzx5PdcatGfNUn2KCEogWhftJ7oaoQ4Lw6uvlnqRDYTIh9zCq7-SG1Z4Aq0kSIuPwQSw-g/s1600-h/DSC_0522.jpg"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjD3ZPrH29KM1eKPxkNpa24GjDQRo4R8epwKwJ8KhgOH-Gg8Le8e_DK86Irts-Pwe3YnqCBvhzx5PdcatGfNUn2KCEogWhftJ7oaoQ4Lw6uvlnqRDYTIh9zCq7-SG1Z4Aq0kSIuPwQSw-g/s320/DSC_0522.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5374385619982719842" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 212px; " /></a></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><br /></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><br /></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><br /></div></span>fizz-kidzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15976877380579034884noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8346590804840814193.post-7562743887843444612009-08-01T16:39:00.018-04:002009-08-08T19:35:53.640-04:00Six Flags Animal Safari<div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Two weeks ago on a Saturday, we decided to visit the Six Flags Animal Safari in </span></span><st1:place st="on"><st1:state st="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">New Jersey</span></span></st1:state></st1:place><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> with our friends. We hadn't taken our daughter out much since I started recovering from surgery.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">It was a 3 hour drive to get there from </span></span><st1:place st="on"><st1:city st="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Westchester</span></span></st1:city><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">, </span></span><st1:state st="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">NY</span></span></st1:state></st1:place><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> thanks to the heavy traffic. We parked at the rest area which has decent amenities. I would strongly recommend that you take your own food and beverages as the cost is exorbitant inside. For example a small bottle of water cost my friend Nakul $3.30, and a diet coke $3.75.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">After lunch, we started off on the safari, not really knowing what to expect. It turned out to be a good experience to watch from inside your car, as the animals roamed around freely, especially the giraffes that were literally walking over the vehicles inspecting the occupants through the sunroofs or the windows; the lazy elephants taking a bath in the hot afternoon; 3 rhinos crossing the street in front of us in a parade; and of course the 'we could care less' lions and tigers. Then there were the other usual suspects - zebras, ostriches (too many of them), deers, kangaroos, bears, baboons by the hundreds, and many other animals whose names I can't even remember.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">My daughter Tvisha and her friend Kharan had a great time looking at the animals, fighting amongst themselves at times to find the best spot in the car. Both of them were also really intrigued as to why the baboon's derriere was red in color. I of course took the fifth on answering that one :-).</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">The whole viewing time is around 1 hour and we were back to the rest area where we had parked previously. The kids Tvisha, Kharan and Sahana all enjoyed a pony ride, while I was ready to get out of there contemplating with submission how bad the drive back was going to be.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">To summarize, it was a good outing if you can bear the heat and the I-95 traffic, and the pricing of the event ($20 bucks a person, which with 5-6 people in a car adds up real fast). I am sharing some pictures that I took and here is the <a href="http://www.sixflags.com/greatAdventure/nearbyParks/WildSafari.aspx">link </a>to the Animal Safari. Please bear with the fact that some of the photos were taken with the car windows up, hence may not be that clear.</span></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:Verdana;font-size:13px;"><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_COYWo9ipQQ1FFcvLl54S3Odo2AShGpRyq9Lb6aNNZcgkE1Lk9L8s_C2OFxsRAfFeS4PB8JP1pAV3gXwsEHHfyi6fJ84ZJNCCn4egEoS-EvM9zYjkPsaGa7Ov1MmRMZnAGEGA4b5VoOY/s1600-h/DSC_0203.jpg"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_COYWo9ipQQ1FFcvLl54S3Odo2AShGpRyq9Lb6aNNZcgkE1Lk9L8s_C2OFxsRAfFeS4PB8JP1pAV3gXwsEHHfyi6fJ84ZJNCCn4egEoS-EvM9zYjkPsaGa7Ov1MmRMZnAGEGA4b5VoOY/s320/DSC_0203.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5365102096145631250" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 212px; " /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> <br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdZ4BtLJfOZhWFeKowKw3lB_Xz_0atzRm1Qp7aqwoQm9RIOUHzPuvn4CKjUb3wV_wO59XTYJmxcd-Jymp3kAio3ePonzAx1MYY-Rw-1NKTGgO_iVRfml-VGXPdtI99GL6ZPrGMVePZJfg/s1600-h/DSC_0204.jpg"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdZ4BtLJfOZhWFeKowKw3lB_Xz_0atzRm1Qp7aqwoQm9RIOUHzPuvn4CKjUb3wV_wO59XTYJmxcd-Jymp3kAio3ePonzAx1MYY-Rw-1NKTGgO_iVRfml-VGXPdtI99GL6ZPrGMVePZJfg/s320/DSC_0204.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5365102023733803090" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 212px; " /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> Looked like an ostrich, but was a Rhea!<br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2Gy89pbbyBkKgVqAW0v0wh73ZTBmQOeitbZVs3Nbt-KPsJD6zBBVfe6bc5G2K3BweYtna8Fg68LPPaK2jHVDR5L9fciRxai-ScwlpVCAJ-OOk4KSD6qbMKY60kUoDlOecZ_0zNqIkVNo/s1600-h/DSC_0218.jpg"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2Gy89pbbyBkKgVqAW0v0wh73ZTBmQOeitbZVs3Nbt-KPsJD6zBBVfe6bc5G2K3BweYtna8Fg68LPPaK2jHVDR5L9fciRxai-ScwlpVCAJ-OOk4KSD6qbMKY60kUoDlOecZ_0zNqIkVNo/s320/DSC_0218.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5365102019139995298" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 212px; " /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKEt1UeCsdrEBdsh4ZrSbfvmz9ZT38tXn9zfVZeSa7xvVyWBdtZ_qUU0NftTG6_ElyMtYS-WviCTlLIbDvC5MvxGvquYIZLjBlGUuroGjNImluMrHbmN9R6iaQL8dSJL_QYMLVQ98Fg34/s1600-h/DSC_0222.jpg"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKEt1UeCsdrEBdsh4ZrSbfvmz9ZT38tXn9zfVZeSa7xvVyWBdtZ_qUU0NftTG6_ElyMtYS-WviCTlLIbDvC5MvxGvquYIZLjBlGUuroGjNImluMrHbmN9R6iaQL8dSJL_QYMLVQ98Fg34/s320/DSC_0222.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5365102016451733362" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 212px; " /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaTn-rgnWKibYCdyTGZW2rA8vGT2sjrn6W5MPhc5KahSNLeChutTvqH39Vo28XiQHaTai0rnBrxxdCVrMcuE0vfayNLtu8rU7E7oB_lxdZ-c5RZe7Uk_q0VKUgF7Rg65TwdIK8GjYfb7A/s1600-h/DSC_0225.jpg"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaTn-rgnWKibYCdyTGZW2rA8vGT2sjrn6W5MPhc5KahSNLeChutTvqH39Vo28XiQHaTai0rnBrxxdCVrMcuE0vfayNLtu8rU7E7oB_lxdZ-c5RZe7Uk_q0VKUgF7Rg65TwdIK8GjYfb7A/s320/DSC_0225.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5365102010410030114" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 212px; " /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrPlA2OHHPdvWdFHzLQETayTyPvwgT60aPyBdGJ3ap4puUo9MdRqaV44HZ43apjjZpVCftyV7wWQS3j2ET9AyNny43U5KUV9u52HhLyo25xsuzKvcmZ3_H99w-b9vsa4Ix4R7FTqyJsVA/s1600-h/DSC_0233.jpg"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrPlA2OHHPdvWdFHzLQETayTyPvwgT60aPyBdGJ3ap4puUo9MdRqaV44HZ43apjjZpVCftyV7wWQS3j2ET9AyNny43U5KUV9u52HhLyo25xsuzKvcmZ3_H99w-b9vsa4Ix4R7FTqyJsVA/s320/DSC_0233.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5365102005985878386" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 212px; " /></a><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> Ostirch?? hmmm.....<br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMuqsZINBtgOtd22fuaoFFikBsZMosAZOSCpO2gvgTufKF7HNc3aHroDyDM3x8dbNIVAk4PrsGfXwDCwxhnAXyUoYO0tmsSUO4r8e7hiAkBVY-rGXgR4BUOIidUaxm0P-tmBgVR4RHO_M/s1600-h/DSC_0234.jpg"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMuqsZINBtgOtd22fuaoFFikBsZMosAZOSCpO2gvgTufKF7HNc3aHroDyDM3x8dbNIVAk4PrsGfXwDCwxhnAXyUoYO0tmsSUO4r8e7hiAkBVY-rGXgR4BUOIidUaxm0P-tmBgVR4RHO_M/s320/DSC_0234.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5365101756940920370" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 212px; " /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4QQPosAI0aE7EbJASZ2B0ZLUJXRkNe-xcrBQr7oJX14sG0OI1Ywe3iidtyNU371f0XffYvEHR20aPKGqkdg8sXxQEK7m8zpWMA17gnFCLnlgrfb7HYyCoJyCEenp-7TET95avYObbKP0/s1600-h/DSC_0249.jpg"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4QQPosAI0aE7EbJASZ2B0ZLUJXRkNe-xcrBQr7oJX14sG0OI1Ywe3iidtyNU371f0XffYvEHR20aPKGqkdg8sXxQEK7m8zpWMA17gnFCLnlgrfb7HYyCoJyCEenp-7TET95avYObbKP0/s320/DSC_0249.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5365101750870334306" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 212px; " /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8T-pad8a7lYBZxr6sM-tXJZMeSC6BNgvRY4Ox56cfnnP4InLNTOuKfb1RbRUDocB-FfVO_zhxKcw59Ry1JRTkgay3PwHcHpQtonIyFaLJoik2nRywCqUKX2SXTjPyOXFAHcel-LPrKLA/s1600-h/DSC_0255.jpg"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8T-pad8a7lYBZxr6sM-tXJZMeSC6BNgvRY4Ox56cfnnP4InLNTOuKfb1RbRUDocB-FfVO_zhxKcw59Ry1JRTkgay3PwHcHpQtonIyFaLJoik2nRywCqUKX2SXTjPyOXFAHcel-LPrKLA/s320/DSC_0255.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5365101744006710146" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 212px; " /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjo5KxE6UXH6vGvpF2RYX2EIiLlVBysNIQAX2oPPcePvKpa04iG3NkFVrRtLexNYI0wh9G-WVC_6P6IRqka8xjpzE0igWigKnWQ0Wn5Dckk0WNpwg-K1o3LDEz2-bsUlIg1r85H-f7a4Qs/s1600-h/DSC_0263.jpg"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjo5KxE6UXH6vGvpF2RYX2EIiLlVBysNIQAX2oPPcePvKpa04iG3NkFVrRtLexNYI0wh9G-WVC_6P6IRqka8xjpzE0igWigKnWQ0Wn5Dckk0WNpwg-K1o3LDEz2-bsUlIg1r85H-f7a4Qs/s320/DSC_0263.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5365101744933935362" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 212px; " /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJ55n8RUJst7ETRHFb507p6c7_VRFzQFetYYXDG-hwsYDrwZrOIL9OP-RteTJgrd504vcPzVmtUyTE-mXJIS4Lb9Y0FIPBxYu5IO-PYN1k7arY8E50_1K19tC0HTbFvBe1xeAGIICuEXY/s1600-h/DSC_0267.jpg"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJ55n8RUJst7ETRHFb507p6c7_VRFzQFetYYXDG-hwsYDrwZrOIL9OP-RteTJgrd504vcPzVmtUyTE-mXJIS4Lb9Y0FIPBxYu5IO-PYN1k7arY8E50_1K19tC0HTbFvBe1xeAGIICuEXY/s320/DSC_0267.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5365101742409550242" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 212px; " /></a><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> Ostrich??? almost sure.....<br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkz4m8NjtjEPpPBlDXacOD9pxbxaAGr92MBVQ6mLcRoiDCdaEhzcr1XNwbzBs93mnd-6f41ZQX3ND_rSMqBKjBM3fe5XqVtX94iCUDC1fgfNHB-k1FwsYFVhee0X4RYW5HnXc3_N5YHlE/s1600-h/DSC_0272.jpg"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkz4m8NjtjEPpPBlDXacOD9pxbxaAGr92MBVQ6mLcRoiDCdaEhzcr1XNwbzBs93mnd-6f41ZQX3ND_rSMqBKjBM3fe5XqVtX94iCUDC1fgfNHB-k1FwsYFVhee0X4RYW5HnXc3_N5YHlE/s320/DSC_0272.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5365101196689119954" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 212px; " /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghFR2T-n9MR_T-xQvCAoHlCrgYq4l-Lr8f68J6kOdtciwSZQBhj6hSYwt7wL0bVx6DZ568oAWYFI7Xh2haz23bngfGdzPa2ZT9mZFTQlQzDoliw7iaFoS4RqsgiW16bdmk1R3mR71LpVo/s1600-h/DSC_0278.jpg"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghFR2T-n9MR_T-xQvCAoHlCrgYq4l-Lr8f68J6kOdtciwSZQBhj6hSYwt7wL0bVx6DZ568oAWYFI7Xh2haz23bngfGdzPa2ZT9mZFTQlQzDoliw7iaFoS4RqsgiW16bdmk1R3mR71LpVo/s320/DSC_0278.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5365101192608313810" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 212px; " /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlp19bQ4_UHRlNEedEZ3hbm49v0Me0F0RStsCCJlrBPVTpMsHFVWzuda1QNK4IrTXPsvwBt6b5WQojknzY4AJLata79vwC4fo4FndR47qWkJQHCaHmRouXvHqOWyrpsqPVUSeT9Lpi8t0/s1600-h/DSC_0286.jpg"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlp19bQ4_UHRlNEedEZ3hbm49v0Me0F0RStsCCJlrBPVTpMsHFVWzuda1QNK4IrTXPsvwBt6b5WQojknzY4AJLata79vwC4fo4FndR47qWkJQHCaHmRouXvHqOWyrpsqPVUSeT9Lpi8t0/s320/DSC_0286.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5365101189364685378" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 212px; " /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDYP8JGEmv6fbHYPhWkynq1VpkHqOsaJZt5NrNibiRZyFPjUSntNbFwN_P3j_bSt39DVNWRervl0ZCe_ovQF4UV1oeDwP5YfgASfk1Xnp01yqAKgmrpgLgn7UzUpS_10SFYQYomCJl9c8/s1600-h/DSC_0289.jpg"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDYP8JGEmv6fbHYPhWkynq1VpkHqOsaJZt5NrNibiRZyFPjUSntNbFwN_P3j_bSt39DVNWRervl0ZCe_ovQF4UV1oeDwP5YfgASfk1Xnp01yqAKgmrpgLgn7UzUpS_10SFYQYomCJl9c8/s320/DSC_0289.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5365101186180726770" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 212px; " /></a><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> This was really cool!!<br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvwYI41Wc4LQvlmWlTAMQ6uOzPrSKZeSUQiXqqqXkg_Ajkr9ogwCVxplBPcK0LVS8TdT3lESwVgFR6CfIRQnu5AslGH-Gpat6uyzFYXTyUHGZalMNzCN882DlWkvJw1i2iav1VE-RBhmc/s1600-h/DSC_0290.jpg"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvwYI41Wc4LQvlmWlTAMQ6uOzPrSKZeSUQiXqqqXkg_Ajkr9ogwCVxplBPcK0LVS8TdT3lESwVgFR6CfIRQnu5AslGH-Gpat6uyzFYXTyUHGZalMNzCN882DlWkvJw1i2iav1VE-RBhmc/s320/DSC_0290.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5365101182553173474" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 212px; " /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5mFFGmGYYwxubsEN97bQ6mTqXz1-264F49y7EEle03iFxsO-v4PpYX3oc2d7_qREZKx6BF-3M-iN7jw3Rn7zHZviYkqgmqH6EXb3WlePPdCAN_A6ZrHy8QAphOhzArowFUqAOeKrK1lo/s1600-h/DSC_0292.jpg"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5mFFGmGYYwxubsEN97bQ6mTqXz1-264F49y7EEle03iFxsO-v4PpYX3oc2d7_qREZKx6BF-3M-iN7jw3Rn7zHZviYkqgmqH6EXb3WlePPdCAN_A6ZrHy8QAphOhzArowFUqAOeKrK1lo/s320/DSC_0292.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5365100889429253938" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 212px; " /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiABR2yn5DktaV_jTPhi5U7SCH6riVP4gKaT4ljoTZL0GA28DC5povVdRB4Abl2n4UmvqDbToRFcWPH1xXwOs3XxL1ccS3ZgW2J7sVfrMd_UIKmKdwus3a-7ebk6Vfp2LmPPZt2-Jl_SA/s1600-h/DSC_0294.jpg"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiABR2yn5DktaV_jTPhi5U7SCH6riVP4gKaT4ljoTZL0GA28DC5povVdRB4Abl2n4UmvqDbToRFcWPH1xXwOs3XxL1ccS3ZgW2J7sVfrMd_UIKmKdwus3a-7ebk6Vfp2LmPPZt2-Jl_SA/s320/DSC_0294.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5365100886771444242" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 212px; " /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6TQ42-xRSgMVVgX7EYLr9S917sFkW1QO6RjcO0iTuNLEmNic1YAY5kEtXX8d4n__-sT1j3boKbu7q7R6rMSNIR8SzJUFpKT4Gbu8LpUgbMInLij1fy0lmB6QHb6J2ATkFnZnjjqloxRE/s1600-h/DSC_0296.jpg"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6TQ42-xRSgMVVgX7EYLr9S917sFkW1QO6RjcO0iTuNLEmNic1YAY5kEtXX8d4n__-sT1j3boKbu7q7R6rMSNIR8SzJUFpKT4Gbu8LpUgbMInLij1fy0lmB6QHb6J2ATkFnZnjjqloxRE/s320/DSC_0296.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5365100881091189522" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 212px; " /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqPYEIW6FHz6ETMnKW5J9cJSe4hHCxSkyL-azTnSJoVpIqfDWqRfCiEB83Fnjstu0AgGd-L584cMJKCUHRlpxoULPYr1ZjHLB3IY0bywuQb513QD18VpqLcY4HjZ-c_MeLsRzXML7zBrw/s1600-h/DSC_0299.jpg"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqPYEIW6FHz6ETMnKW5J9cJSe4hHCxSkyL-azTnSJoVpIqfDWqRfCiEB83Fnjstu0AgGd-L584cMJKCUHRlpxoULPYr1ZjHLB3IY0bywuQb513QD18VpqLcY4HjZ-c_MeLsRzXML7zBrw/s320/DSC_0299.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5365100878169689442" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 212px; height: 320px; " /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwP6QlwuLziV4GWuIXBh8ki_9qCMCdfutbMNGV2_Gg1t0oow7PPmHotI2HB47E3e7TuDtZipw48sVBBVZ4BluLaA_JcUTRvC9f38-f5FvtdgixED_5mid42Rgz_EfXFWnUCdjNL6xSfk8/s1600-h/DSC_0300.jpg"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwP6QlwuLziV4GWuIXBh8ki_9qCMCdfutbMNGV2_Gg1t0oow7PPmHotI2HB47E3e7TuDtZipw48sVBBVZ4BluLaA_JcUTRvC9f38-f5FvtdgixED_5mid42Rgz_EfXFWnUCdjNL6xSfk8/s320/DSC_0300.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5365100875720242338" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 212px; " /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMDQUzRe-WcWZIZQO8Iplbyn8R-mkQo300BE3NiGVhVGQL70TGkUxrEYaEoZYjeE1MO8Vg4wyY_1Wvr0f0L5RoRpbmTtaTUo_bS26ArLSnT5SPDsFilMJQEhXl0YojhLfqEQpFXlSj2dw/s1600-h/DSC_0307.jpg"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMDQUzRe-WcWZIZQO8Iplbyn8R-mkQo300BE3NiGVhVGQL70TGkUxrEYaEoZYjeE1MO8Vg4wyY_1Wvr0f0L5RoRpbmTtaTUo_bS26ArLSnT5SPDsFilMJQEhXl0YojhLfqEQpFXlSj2dw/s320/DSC_0307.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5365100606977892530" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 212px; " /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0ta8Xby1cwIbWmg0eSAimUY671UwMgyPindfUZ4XTX1pe6-pNnyT-Aq4xiSOmq2c0lYAVozc7P4l-fWXELuiw8tBBGm13FiDXEL3xIMRvs7Rt3Bbx9Ty7oNeDsBSe1UCrDWlMf7DWq8M/s1600-h/DSC_0313.jpg"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0ta8Xby1cwIbWmg0eSAimUY671UwMgyPindfUZ4XTX1pe6-pNnyT-Aq4xiSOmq2c0lYAVozc7P4l-fWXELuiw8tBBGm13FiDXEL3xIMRvs7Rt3Bbx9Ty7oNeDsBSe1UCrDWlMf7DWq8M/s320/DSC_0313.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5365100603721201858" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 212px; " /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmWFuWHTZWsXmLVuhD-mutQ5wo1HfYiqCFcltE-TNTSWmEBWnwjdXcBt4bRBcPtdrxrVxhcNvBTkCOGIhEzEBuDMzdpUI5p5WVmRNVOtW1ZW0PmRxznYtmEsF1ZC_KESoKf43U14SllaY/s1600-h/DSC_0320.jpg"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmWFuWHTZWsXmLVuhD-mutQ5wo1HfYiqCFcltE-TNTSWmEBWnwjdXcBt4bRBcPtdrxrVxhcNvBTkCOGIhEzEBuDMzdpUI5p5WVmRNVOtW1ZW0PmRxznYtmEsF1ZC_KESoKf43U14SllaY/s320/DSC_0320.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5365100603598272498" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 212px; " /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDdYr5oA-gkZBIVIWG3rBj8WBib8RFmZG7Wjgr9kn4_7vnwRI1GwS7uq1TQWPxkrGmTWx-TFh_qbZo-6bbU-uNoQuZJepTc-DEvWNiEBA333THEsg36_YHfdnDbMP919187TcQIz8K2kU/s1600-h/DSC_0324.jpg"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDdYr5oA-gkZBIVIWG3rBj8WBib8RFmZG7Wjgr9kn4_7vnwRI1GwS7uq1TQWPxkrGmTWx-TFh_qbZo-6bbU-uNoQuZJepTc-DEvWNiEBA333THEsg36_YHfdnDbMP919187TcQIz8K2kU/s320/DSC_0324.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5365100599897409730" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 212px; " /></a><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> Bear necessities.......<br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhE-OqRHdJYMosTPq5PGfYCTfg_zEJw-55skVpNhTq4Z894MWC59hXNgzzk4jut0icQMgNyEZsVf06QCPttGDnbdneFE_K7_1r9t99kDXxhLMu5mAve2VQKKL5nq67Kp2Q3QkBYmIF9tyM/s1600-h/DSC_0330.jpg"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhE-OqRHdJYMosTPq5PGfYCTfg_zEJw-55skVpNhTq4Z894MWC59hXNgzzk4jut0icQMgNyEZsVf06QCPttGDnbdneFE_K7_1r9t99kDXxhLMu5mAve2VQKKL5nq67Kp2Q3QkBYmIF9tyM/s320/DSC_0330.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5365100597120699490" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 212px; " /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgc8i-KW3D31TbJHSwpyAJc_DsNO0kCOmugCRQJO4p9Z_sdVPt4D5BT9R0HqvNqMaVBqg6H-Em5L6a1Y2Cv8ZyIQfZDn7gs9NaLfvph0FsEBn8uIyvnn-2qV_APfRg6o85AkOTaGV3_Ufw/s1600-h/DSC_0331.jpg"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgc8i-KW3D31TbJHSwpyAJc_DsNO0kCOmugCRQJO4p9Z_sdVPt4D5BT9R0HqvNqMaVBqg6H-Em5L6a1Y2Cv8ZyIQfZDn7gs9NaLfvph0FsEBn8uIyvnn-2qV_APfRg6o85AkOTaGV3_Ufw/s320/DSC_0331.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5365100239468911042" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 212px; " /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkFNIhIgKmZT-3lvsXyEd1tpC2oOpiXQ-11AIcmWxCWhX98Qb7impnhO3pb4hh5WryXa5xpv20eKrBVbdnVyF5oV1BGDvJlhwkxPmeggD3i0tyb_luqaANWiDvuPW5YlguiJen7Afp9G0/s1600-h/DSC_0334.jpg"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkFNIhIgKmZT-3lvsXyEd1tpC2oOpiXQ-11AIcmWxCWhX98Qb7impnhO3pb4hh5WryXa5xpv20eKrBVbdnVyF5oV1BGDvJlhwkxPmeggD3i0tyb_luqaANWiDvuPW5YlguiJen7Afp9G0/s320/DSC_0334.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5365100238405680002" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 212px; " /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfIEXWj9XZ0BMNMrpxO5n0mkx3In5JmP2fIK5dTIsUvfdwWQjs69stiwANwF7c0DDItdI8RYmC1q8GXQqO-DOx-nRrlLDRYPOTkOHoFbua_gLecruzJxstFLPDd4ZeyQ4G_X-3IGNQftI/s1600-h/DSC_0337.jpg"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfIEXWj9XZ0BMNMrpxO5n0mkx3In5JmP2fIK5dTIsUvfdwWQjs69stiwANwF7c0DDItdI8RYmC1q8GXQqO-DOx-nRrlLDRYPOTkOHoFbua_gLecruzJxstFLPDd4ZeyQ4G_X-3IGNQftI/s320/DSC_0337.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5365100235002505522" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 212px; " /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqQrKkZa9fDYW0XrtLLxfoOzlO543pB-hwXI4vxpU-M0Aw0GiiGm-_xWrP7bYCcBR5oTYdDxh5G75p50yb8ifG5MaB5cG7OuTIqjL-KIF6zv2RzCaojn04s0_ZDS0gbvRAp_EotN6A_Do/s1600-h/DSC_0342.jpg"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqQrKkZa9fDYW0XrtLLxfoOzlO543pB-hwXI4vxpU-M0Aw0GiiGm-_xWrP7bYCcBR5oTYdDxh5G75p50yb8ifG5MaB5cG7OuTIqjL-KIF6zv2RzCaojn04s0_ZDS0gbvRAp_EotN6A_Do/s320/DSC_0342.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5365100229561646386" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 212px; " /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg02BsF1EKQlCpF45a16MZ-USIhAkSyBaw64h6Sq_-qi740G9tBijN_sPdyifpf-qK-7nOhmOoh_nigS013atIvVqq6LfRJr1-_rS-VB9Q_PKxLJY_ejslSk6uQ4nA6gMaAGXhFyI_FiXk/s1600-h/DSC_0348.jpg"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg02BsF1EKQlCpF45a16MZ-USIhAkSyBaw64h6Sq_-qi740G9tBijN_sPdyifpf-qK-7nOhmOoh_nigS013atIvVqq6LfRJr1-_rS-VB9Q_PKxLJY_ejslSk6uQ4nA6gMaAGXhFyI_FiXk/s320/DSC_0348.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5365100225877798962" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 212px; height: 320px; " /></a><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> My daughter and wife!<br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDDEmx9Dzj2jAEOUef4zvBzfnOkGbQ5u7wyG7VYbuXd3arGaglVDw50N1xxQAp7uozXbQ_vK7JnYPaPkPQbUgR71HFB-nHpzGwG7_cr7pgvw3AJs-q_6abSQDUJvcw74LACgRl-8lhx28/s1600-h/DSC_0351.jpg"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDDEmx9Dzj2jAEOUef4zvBzfnOkGbQ5u7wyG7VYbuXd3arGaglVDw50N1xxQAp7uozXbQ_vK7JnYPaPkPQbUgR71HFB-nHpzGwG7_cr7pgvw3AJs-q_6abSQDUJvcw74LACgRl-8lhx28/s320/DSC_0351.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5365099827478984866" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 212px; " /></a><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> My friend's son, Kharan<br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLbUoIMDkNBaQJghReeT937ok6XoRYXXGJseFZT-WEhkCZWcggZ4j21xnWOioiEfdfvcx2MLszm-C9YUGol1z_DhCKWx_L8wy5JUnpCchG84edci8X5naf28ZvZBqvOiaqv4qCRXHxkLs/s1600-h/DSC_0363.jpg"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLbUoIMDkNBaQJghReeT937ok6XoRYXXGJseFZT-WEhkCZWcggZ4j21xnWOioiEfdfvcx2MLszm-C9YUGol1z_DhCKWx_L8wy5JUnpCchG84edci8X5naf28ZvZBqvOiaqv4qCRXHxkLs/s320/DSC_0363.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5365099828447855314" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 212px; height: 320px; " /></a><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> Sahana and her dad, Nakul<br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaiAfQ8G_ue8TRF64pcLaDQFfMNVZI_sVcwm9KdoTljaT3CdUWirok2DfM1aZ2RZTNVtScS4UxjLR-_UOOSjGJAqST6__Jgg31gXqOnEQF-hYmZwlHoaEIEaUTTQWnCP8BVO7cE_AeQLU/s1600-h/DSC_0369.jpg"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaiAfQ8G_ue8TRF64pcLaDQFfMNVZI_sVcwm9KdoTljaT3CdUWirok2DfM1aZ2RZTNVtScS4UxjLR-_UOOSjGJAqST6__Jgg31gXqOnEQF-hYmZwlHoaEIEaUTTQWnCP8BVO7cE_AeQLU/s320/DSC_0369.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5365099826191149602" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 212px; " /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5EAhzA2pmuC8Qq2iJa9B1VTEOMUbxMN9HmlSt4ohnH5wSifW8YUn5rS8P4JNtP1HM1Mydg72Z0a9DEdifiipXiTh9B5dz0rpR35q5TioNPAVde04EILvXWp9CtGOYFb_Ntm0Ok13XGic/s1600-h/DSC_0374.jpg"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5EAhzA2pmuC8Qq2iJa9B1VTEOMUbxMN9HmlSt4ohnH5wSifW8YUn5rS8P4JNtP1HM1Mydg72Z0a9DEdifiipXiTh9B5dz0rpR35q5TioNPAVde04EILvXWp9CtGOYFb_Ntm0Ok13XGic/s320/DSC_0374.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5365099821696843634" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 212px; height: 320px; " /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0NktBXVQZb2Blig078e_xLIppXPDOLVSjG-F2mxt2xT1HsRY7HPkGEAxNCQbDPx69hWBw2JUL7a6o_FV8QySyBcY3UV4rquPhHdJre666rMZBZ-Y1zeTOrNluY0Xta5ttGY9VZ87pfXs/s1600-h/DSC_0388.jpg"></a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0NktBXVQZb2Blig078e_xLIppXPDOLVSjG-F2mxt2xT1HsRY7HPkGEAxNCQbDPx69hWBw2JUL7a6o_FV8QySyBcY3UV4rquPhHdJre666rMZBZ-Y1zeTOrNluY0Xta5ttGY9VZ87pfXs/s1600-h/DSC_0388.jpg"></a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0NktBXVQZb2Blig078e_xLIppXPDOLVSjG-F2mxt2xT1HsRY7HPkGEAxNCQbDPx69hWBw2JUL7a6o_FV8QySyBcY3UV4rquPhHdJre666rMZBZ-Y1zeTOrNluY0Xta5ttGY9VZ87pfXs/s1600-h/DSC_0388.jpg"></a></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:13px;"><br /></span></span></div></span>fizz-kidzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15976877380579034884noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8346590804840814193.post-69613990341540019312009-07-15T12:47:00.003-04:002009-07-15T13:05:03.242-04:00You know your child is growing way too fast when...1) you hear yourself saying "don't do that", or "no" almost all the time while she goes around doing just what she wants<br /><br />2) she says she doesn't need any help with anything, and does ask for help only when she needs it<br /><br />3) she can open/lock the front door, wear and choose her own clothes, buckle/unbuckle her car seat belt, know how to get to YouTube on the ipod and play videos all by having observed us<br /><br />4) she does dance poses in front of the mirror<br /><br />5) she imitates mommy's way of carrying her purse, placing her sun glasses on top of her head, and carries her own foldable chair to the park.<br /><br />My daughter is around 3.5 years old.....SCARY!!fizz-kidzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15976877380579034884noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8346590804840814193.post-14204634506352211012009-04-28T14:06:00.005-04:002009-04-28T14:29:06.138-04:00Update: April 28, 2009<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;">Hi all, </span></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;">As it so happened, on the day of my daughter's 3rd birthday, i admitted myself to the ER and had to undergo surgery from which i am recovering at this point. Sadly we couldn't celebrate her birthday as we had planned it the way i had written in my earlier post. </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;">We did have a very quiet affair once i was back from the hospital, with just our family members. At least we got a very sweet and excited smile from her when we surprised her with her birthday cake and balloons, etc.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;">By the way, all the talk and what one reads in articles about 'terrible two's', we found her 2</span></span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">nd</span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"> year to be a breeze, and are finding bringing her up as she is 3 now quite a challenge :-). But boy aren't we up to it? Well almost, so far. </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;">The 4</span></span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">th</span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"> annual Lego Fun show with Arthur </span></span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">Gugick</span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"> and his creations (http://www.</span></span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">gugick</span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;">.com) was held on April 25 and 26 at the </span></span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">Lyndhurst</span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"> Mansion, </span></span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">Tarrytown</span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;">, New York. I was meaning to give some information on it and let people know of the same, but </span></span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">couldn't</span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"> do so. My wife did plan on taking my daughter but she did not go in the end, as we had some last minute things crop up. Hopefully some of you made it, and did enjoy the exhibition. If you have some good experiences to write about, please do share it.</span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;">Here is the list of some interesting events coming up at <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">Lyndhurst</span> for kids and adults alike, if you happen to live in the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">Westchester</span> or New York area </span></span><a href="http://www.lyndhurst.org/2009calendar.pdf"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;">http://www.lyndhurst.org/2009calendar.pdf</span></span></a></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9">Sriram</span></span></span></span></div>fizz-kidzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15976877380579034884noreply@blogger.com0