Finally, I get to see another country this time and not the same old USA. We spent one week in the Canadian state of British Columbia more precisely on the island of Victoria. The island is named after Queen Victoria, the Canadian sovereign from 1867 to 1901.

We were a huge group and we all stayed at the Inn at Laurel point which is located on the inner harbour of the island. Our hotel was within walking distance to many attractions and eating joints.The whole place was decorated with magnificent X'mas lights, bringing about so much joy and happiness to the Yuletide.

 The photo above is of the Government House as it stood shining brilliantly against the black silhouette of the night.

A trip to the Royal London Wax Museum, by Josephine Tussaud ( the great great grand daughter of the ever famous Madame Tussaud) took me on a trip to London, virtually! Not all of the wax figures are true to their characters but it is worth visiting if you have not been lucky enough to see Madame Tussauds's wax museum in London. I tried to be satisfied with seeing this one right here in Victoria!


Since we were all there in the cold month of December it was ridiculous to expect any scenic sights of nature. The winter had chilled the whole island along with mother nature and thank heavens we did not get snowed out! Inspite of being sufficiently clothed we at times found it difficult to weather the cold. What happens when it snows is anyone's guess. We had a night of -1degree C. I know, I know, for someone on the east coast of the US or anywhere other than California, this temp is really nothing. But we managed to keep warm and toasty most of the times by just chatting and how can I forget EATING!  It is funny how we Indians think of food ever so often, and that is exactly what we were doing too. Yes, we have to eat too right? An Indian restaurant was our very first pick! We were surprised to see one in of all the places Victoria. Guess we Indians have really reached far and wide, for good or bad reasons depends on your perspective.

For me the best part of all was the horse ride. Good heavens, one look at the horses and you wonder what they are fed! Two adjectives that come to mind are : handsome and mammoth. I was excited like a child on seeing the horse driven carriages and could not contain my excitement when we all decided to go for a ride. Small things in life but they give me immense joy. And guess what, just so you don't feel overwhelmed by the bone chilling breeze that hits you when you are on the carriage, we were given really huge warm blankets to cover ourselves up with! These blankets belonged to the owners of the carriages I think but who cares really. Maybe the drivers ( all women by the way) hoped that travelers would come back for more and not have an excuse of feeling too cold when aboard the carriage. The sound of the horse shoe reminded of all our Bollywood evergreen classics- songs by OP Nayyar for instance which are famous for that horse shoe beat.
Words are not enough to describe what I felt that night on board that carriage. Wonderful, simply wonderful!

Our visit to Butchart Gardens was disappointing. Now before you jump to conclusions,let me tell you that we did not don our thinking hats when deciding to visiting this place ( I guess the cold was beginning to take its toll on our minds!!) The garden is at its best during fall and summer when the flowers are in full bloom and is absolutely breathtaking to behold. One reaching there the first thing we did was, er, go to the Cafe!  With our stomachs full and bladders empty we were ready to be greeted with gorgeous flowers but lo! We walked and walked and walked only to see wild bushes and plants. There were very very few highly insignificant flowers which did catch our attention. How? you may ask, if they were insignificant. That is because I think they knew how utterly disappointed we all were and hence were trying to stretch themselves out from the amidst the bushes, to lift our dampened spirits. Thank you my petaled friends. Better luck next time eh!

One the whole the trip was fantastic. For all ye further inquiries you can visit :
                http://www.vancouverisland.com/regions/towns/?townID=1

This book is a children's storybook as you can guess. I happened to read this book to my kids before their bedtime. Upon completion I had tears in my eyes. One has heard of poignant movies and books but a poignant children's storybook? Who knew? I did not for sure. Even the title of this storybook doesn't give a hint of any elements of poignancy in the story. When I first read the title I thought to myself " oh wow, something about jams and jellies". Sure enought the book is about jam and jelly but it is the simple yet profound message given through the jam and jelly combination that really touched me.

The story is set in rural Northern Michigan in the season of Fall . The little girl on the cover page yearns to go to school in the coming winter but does not have warm clothing to get her to school. Why you may ask. Because she comes from a poor family . Her father does not deem it fit for her to to attend school but her mother realising the importance of education decides to send her to school come hell or high water.

The mother and daughter duo go berry picking through out fall and everyday after they have picked a ton of berries they come back home thereafter which the mother prepares jars of jams and jellies. One can see how resourceful the mother is when her kitchen shelves are lined with empty jars of consumed Mayo, peant butter, etc. All these jars come in handy for the freshly prepared jams and jellies. The mother in the midst of all this hard work has time to prepare a sumptuous berry pie for the family too!

The father is playing his role too. How? He tells the mother and daughter that he has a surprise for them which would be ready soon. After all the jams and jellies are ready, it is time to get to some action. Yes, to sell them. This is where the father's surprise comes in. He has made a wooden stand to hold the jars of jam and jelly to be sold on the roadside to travellers. Not very long, drivers stop by and soon one of the empty jars is shining with coins of money. Holly is beaming with joy because she knows that those coins will help the family put her through school.

Winter comes along and Holly is all ready in her warm boots and jacket to attend school. Imagine how wonderful Holly must've felt in those warm and snug boots and jacket. New clothes, new shoes, new anything for that matter, brings joy not just to kids but to adults too.




A very simple story but what amazed me was the team work of the family, the hard work and the positive attitude. I told my kids how easily we get things in life whenever we want them and how this particular family strived hard to get what they wanted. We must indeed count our blessings.

Thank you Lord for giving us all that you have.

Small simple pleasures of life- they give you so much joy! My husband and I had a wonderful evening with our two brats right in the comfort of our own home. We watched a nice animation movie, ate some delightful popcorn ( the butter was not enough for me!), giggled, sobbed ( there were some poignant moments in the film) and laughed. Who would have imagined that my boys would actually sit down and watch a 90 mins movie without fighting with each other or having my husband and I hollering at them to behave themselves!

The act of watching the movie in itself was very simple but it did drive home a very significant message for me - the more quality time you spend with your kids as parents, the more rewarding your life is, the more you want to cherish these moments you spend with your kids for ever, the more your kids find immense joy to be around with you and above all, it makes everyone in the family happy..My dad always says " you know what , the boys will grow up faster than you think so enjoy them and their childhood as much as you can". Yes, dad, you have me on that one!

Ahaaa, my trip to India was absolutely awesome but then again it had to be, I had gone back
to my roots. The sights, sounds, smells, everything had this feeling of security, a certain
sense of warmth, a feeling that yes, this is where my heart is frankly! I did a lot of travelling
this time when I was India- visiting relatives and family friends. I was there for about 7 weeks and felt like it was just not enough. After all which married girl would want to leave
her parents behind?

India held a ton of surprises for me. Absolutely everything that you can buy here in the US
is now pleasantly available in India too! Yes, I could not believe this too before I left for my
trip but seeing is believing. I visited numerous shopping malls and was astounded at the
sheer variety of stuff found there. And my oh my are we talking expensive or what! Gone
are the days when things were cheap ( I mean price wise please!) in India. Today there is no
dearth of designer labels and boutiques back home. In Delhi there is this mall ( Arrrrgg, I
forget the name) where the entrance fee is Rs.1000. You read it right, I have not added an
extra zero there mind you. I mean 1000 bucks? Nuts or what? Well, for middle class souls
like me that is too extravagant an amount to be throwing around. But there are people
visiting that mall and whatever!

Travelling by road from Mumbai to Nashik was a delightful experience. The weather was wet
and rainy with clouds almost rushing to welcome you sitting in the car. Yes, I love the rains.
There was this amazing little ceramic store on the highway from Mumbai to Nashik. There
was nothing to beat this store in terms of all the other high end stores that I visited. And if
you saw the location of this ceramic store you would wonder! Right off the bathrooms that
people visit when they want a bio break from a long journey. The store is really small, the
items are so close to each other that you might even crash a few things to the ground if
you throw up your hands in the air with excitement on seeing the colors and variety.









Splendid isn't it? Right now I am thinking why I didn't buy a few more things from the store. Alas! This is the price you may for living so far away! I was worried that my ceramic stuff might break on the way here to the US. I just picked up a couple of things from this wonderful store. And the best thing is that I could bargain here for whatever I liked, now that's a different story that I just don't know how to haggle! So I finally landed up buying at the full price, but it was reasonable nevertheless.

Nashik is a developing little city and I have some very very fond memories of this place. It is where my nani and nana lived for many many years. I visited them every summer when I was a child and when it was time to leave nashik behind to come back to mumbai I felt miserable. Maybe next year when I come to India again, I will visit nashik once more and this time I am definitely going to buy a whole lot more from this ceramic beauty!

Happily enjoying my vacation in Delhi I had a few pleasant surprises there! Well, pleasant atleast at the very beginning but at the end of it did leave a sour taste in my mouth. Ok, let me cut the chase and just get to what happened.

I was at this very upscale shopping area called "santushti" in Delhi with my entire family. Since nothing was in my budget ( I did mention upscale, didn't I?) I was just strolling along the tiny pathways when all of a sudden I happened to see Shabana Azmi and Javed Akhtar in one of the stores, yes, no spelling mistakes here!. All of us were like this super excited bunch of high strung nuts who could not believe what we were seeing. The reason I say nuts is because Shabana Azmi and Javed Akhtar are after all humans and not some aliens, but then again how often do I get to see celebrities at such a close range? I was debating whether or not to go and say hello to them but frankly could not muster the guts to do it and rightly so because later on when they did come face to face with my family and me the couple gave us such a cold look that I felt like one big fool.

Maybe I do not understand the celebrity psychology, the reason behind this particular behaviour of their's but whatever it be darn it how difficult is it to smile? It was the duo's cold look that left a sour taste in my mouth. Yes, these celebs are bogged down by paparazzi and what not, but I am sure there are still many celebs out there who would give just one simple smile. Maybe Shabana Azmi and the likes have carved a huge niche for themselves and really don't care a damn about anything. Or maybe, the smiles are given by the not-yet-having-reached-there celebs!
Anyway, I still absolutely respect and admire the couple for their immense talent and contribution to Indian cinema.
On a more lighter note, Shabana Azmi is absolultey gorgeous! Nothing new in that!

What is it about feeling a great sense of loss for someone's death-a person whom you have never met or spoken to in you entire life? I am talking about Michael Jackson. With his death I feel an entire genre of music has come to end. Why did I feel so sad for this man when I heared about his death? Inspite of having everything an average human hopes for, he had a very tragic life, with rape and child abuse cases filed against him, his attempts at a sex change, and the list goes on. Is that why? Yes he carved a niche for himself but I wonder if he was really happy! While watching the news coverage on MJ , I couldn't help but feel a sense of loss at a great mind's demise! I still "remember the time" listening to his songs over and over again and at being awestruck at his spectacular dance moves. Isn't it strange that life simply does not wait for anyone and just goes on and on. People come and people go and all that remains is a memory!

May his soul rest in peace.

"Khalistan zindabad, Khalistan Zindabad" , this was the slogan that was being shouted out by the protestors today in San Francisco right outside the gate of the Indian Consulate. I was sitting inside with my family, for some important job to be done for my son's passport, when all of a sudden I heared a bunch of men shouting. At first, I thought maybe it was the television but then the people inside the consulate started showing some signs of restlessness. Since I was seated in one of the rooms inside, I decided to find out what the pandemonium was all about.

A groups of sardarjis, men of all ages and a few woman, had these placards in their hands which read " India does not respect minorities", " Democracy by the Brahmin, of the Brahmin, for the Brahmin and the COW"! My first thought was what the hell does Brahminism have to do with this at all?? The Congress does not have anything to do with Brahmins or the likes, then why were these people holding placards of the sort? Can someone please tell me? It was the congress govt in the 1980s which was responsible for the entire genocide. Then why blame Brahmins? I am confused....

They were handing out information about the 1984 Sikh genocide and my father in law, I wonder what he was thinking, happened to take one of those booklets much to the chagrin of my mother in law! The booklet which I happened to read on the way home had a very one sided view of the entire Sikh genocide . Journalism has to be neutral for crying out loud! Yes, I can understand you want to state your cause, but get the whole truth out please! Leave it to the readers to decide for themselves and don't cloud their judgement...

When we were stepping out of the consulate, I had some shivers down my spine thinking that if the mob wanted they could have decided to hurt us all , because we were so obviously INDIANS! But then again, aren't the sikhs too? Hmmm.....The cops had been placed at strategic places to avoid any kind of trouble for the public...Thank heavens for them or I think I would have decided to stay inside the consulate premises the whole night! Talk about exaggeration!

For all those who want more information about the Khalistan Movement you can go copy paste the following link in your browser...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khalistan_movement

OSCAR WILDE- This man is nothing short of a genius. I am reading some of his selected works,among them," The picture of Dorian Gray". I find myself lured to this book everytime I get some free time. Why? It is amazing to see Oscar Wilde's ideas and thought processess being echoed through one of the characters,Lord Henry. The reason I am blogging this is because some of Oscar Wilde's ideas are worth putting down and blogging them is a definitive way to committing those ideas to memory, forever!

The following are some of his ideas which some you may simply not agree with and some of you may! Whatever be the reason, all I am doing while reading his book is purely enjoying him.

"But beauty, real beauty, ends where an intellectual expression begins. Intellect is in itself a mode of exaggeration, and destroys the harmony of any face. The moment one sits down to think, one becomes all nose, or all forehead, or something horrid. Look at all the successful men in any of the learned professions. How perfectly hideous they are!..."

Maybe, Oscar Wilde was talking about himself when he says "Look at all the successful men in any of the learned professions. How perfectly hideous they are!..." because frankly to me he is not in the least good looking. His face is on the cover of the book I am reading and it is nothing short of hideous to me. Of course you cannot judge someone's looks by just looking at a cover but you can atleast get a faint idea. Well! Beauty is subjective and all that but nevertheless.

"Laughter is not at all a bad beginning for a friendship, and it is far the best ending for one."

"And beauty is a form of genius-is higher, indeed, than genius, as it needs no explanation. It is one of the great facts of the world, like sunlight, or springtime, or the reflection in dark waters of that silver shell we call the moon. It cannot be questioned. It has its divine right of sovereignty...People say sometimes that beauty is only superficial. That may be so. But at least it is not so superficial as thought is. To m, beauty is the wonder of wonders. It is only shallow people who do not judge by appearances. The true mystery of the world is the visible, not the invisible."

" To get back one's youth, one has merely to repeat one's follies."

"...no woman is a genius. Women are a decorative sex. They never have anything to say, but they say it charmingly. Women represent the triumph of matter over mind, just as men prepresent the triumph of mind over morals."

Ok my friends, this is all for now. Hope these quotes become food for thought! I shall put up some more when I commence my reading of the book again, which is probably tonite, and then you can catch a glimpse of this genius's mind again!

Nestled in the beautiful mountains of Mount Madonna county is the small but not so very old temple of Lord Hanuman. The drive to the temple is through the mysterious woods of the mountains. Upon reaching there I was immediately transported to some place in India, I really don't know why. Once you get down from your car in the car park you can see the peaceful sign of OM ( in the devnagri script) with a small man-made waterfall rippling over it. This whole thing is diagonally behind the temple almost on the foothill of one of the mountains. The whole sight is so peaceful and welcoming.

There are about 14/15 steps to the sanctum sanctorum. I cannot express the sudden surge of feelings that I experienced when I was climbing the steps. There is something about the Almighty that makes you feel that way. Once we reached there we were pleasently surprised upon seeing a caucasian temple pujari, performing the "arti" and handing over the "prasad" to us. The "prasad" was delicious, something made of rice and coconut I think. After gobbling up the "prasad" and headed down to the Anjanaya cafe. For all you mortals out there who dont know who or what "anjanaya" is, this is for you- Anjani is Lord Hanuman's mother and he is known as Anjanaya-son of Anjani. So we flocked right into the open arms of Anjanaya , ready to eat! So apt a title I thought, "Anjanya's cafe", always serving, just like a mother.

The scenery, the air, the chirping of birds, the gentle zephyr, everything had some tranquility to it. I wished I could someday come and stay in one these places and get in touch with myself. We are all so caught up in a tangled web of duties, chores, relationships, etc!

The temple visit was delightful! JAI HANUMAN!

Did anyone of you notice the irony in the location? Lord HANUMAN temple in Mount MADONNA County! :-)

Last weekend my family and I went for some easter celebrations. I had my sons take part in the BIG BUNNY RUN as a part of the celebration. On reaching there my boys were all ready to meet the BIG BUNNY and take off from the start line! I was impressed with the way in which the whole event was organised. All the participants were given a bright red T-shirt each, to fire them up for the run I guess, and plenty of water, energy drinks, a plate of fresh fruits and even pizza ( not a whole one, but just a slice) and all this for free! We paid just $5 for the Bunny Run ticket so expecting a whole pizza for free would be just too much!

The adults' race was the first to take place. So much enthusiasm, so much energy and what a festive spirit! Some of the men and women who were running were so old that I couldn't help but wonder if these people have been running all their life...I am very sure one of them was an octogenarian! Hats off to these people for their vibrant spirit and zest for life! And everyone was a winner in the Big Bunny Run! Looking at these people it did not look like anyone of them was worried about the so called economic slump that has so many people in depression...Most of them were all charged up and just took off when the horn was blown by a volunteer....

Next the kids! All of a sudden by younger one was not too eager to go for the run. I realised why. He was scared of the big horn that was being blown to start a race. Somehow we got him to get to the start line and then BAM! Both my kids were sprinting like as though someone was after them to kill them..My husband and I were cheering them on and on and in my mind I was like " gosh, is this the olympics or what???!!" All the kids were given a medal each, seeing the look on all the kids' faces was amazing. "MOM, looooooooook a medal!"

After a photo session with the BIG BUNNY we were heading home when my husband looks at the boys and says" my fellas, we should start practising for the next year's race from this weekend" !!!!!!!! This weekend is just around the corner mind you and I have not heard anything from my husband about the so called practice! Let me wait and watch.....

This afternoon while at the wheel I was completely scared to death at what I saw on the road, at the intersection to be precise. I was taking a left turn and it was a complete NO NO for pedetrians to be crossing the road from my left to right. After the signal turned green I started accelerating and WHOA! there was this lady crossing right in front of me when she was not supposed to! She stood right in the middle of the road and as if out of no where she started making some funny movements with her hands as though she were boxing some imaginary person in front of her. YUP! You got it. The poor lady was mentally derailed. Almost everyone waiting at the other signals had this " what the hell is happening" kind of a look on their faces. One man was cursing her under his breath without realising that she is mentally unstable.

Believe me I felt so bad for this wowan. Infact coming to think of it this was the same lady who was walking right in the middle of a very busy street a few days back too. And that day she was cursing and imaginary someone loudly on the road Luckily, with the speed of the oncoming cars she moved out in time. You might ask me as to how I know it is the same woman. Because I was on the very same street today too just like I was a few days back.

This woman is putting not only her life in danger but the lives of the drivers on the road too! I could have killed her accidently had it not been for my presence of mind to look on all sides of the road before making my left turn! Boy! So important to obey ALL traffic rules.

I beginning to think someone has to report this lady to the law enforcement officials. Maybe I will the next time I see her. Where the hell is her caretaker, if at all she has one, I wonder!

Isn't it amazing what a melodious piece of music can do to your soul? I am listening to one of my favourite songs from this evergreen hindi movie "Kashmir ki kali" and I cannot begin to express how elated and wonderful I am feeling! This is what good things in life do to you, especially great music from the golden era of Bollywood! I am great lover or classical music and I would like to blow my own trumpet by saying that I have a great ear for it. I have tears in my eyes when the music touches me deep down in my heart and music from yesteryears does that to you.

Where has all that great music gone today? Today's many movies are nothing but absolute trash as far as the music goes and let us not even get to the plot! If you ask me ,the hallmark of a great song is when you feel that tingling sensation when humming it! Even after movies 50/60 years old I still get goose flesh when I hear the songs from those movies . That to me is great music and those to me where great composers and lyricists with all due respect to the song composers and lyricists of today!

I know one thing everytime I sing a song, I am in a different world all together and I wish I could just never come back from it. I find solace in singing! Especially classical songs. I should have never stopped learning classical music in the first place! Well! It is never too late to commence again.

There is this nursery rhyme that goes:

Rain rain go away,

Come again another day.

Little Johnny wants to play;

Rain, rain go to Spain

Never show your face again.

Last night when it was raining my husband and I went out to our backyard and stood in the rain enjoying every second of it. That is when this poem came to my mind and I thought I would most definitely not want the rain to go away! It was cold and dark outside, the stark white flowers of one my trees were breathtakingly beautiful against the black sky. It was almost Bollywoodish with both of us soaking slightly, but this time around there was no director saying "action", instead there was a cold, howling wind brushing against us as though urging us to linger on ! I was even transported to India for a few seconds! When it used to rain back home in India I can still remember the earthy smell of the mud just beginning to soak up the lovely drops thereby emitting the most wonderful smell of mother earth, mom making some hot pakodas and me ofcourse gorging on each one of them! I absolutely love the rains. I can almost see some eyebrows raise!

There was something so magical about last night as we both stood there in the rain.It's a pity that sitting inside the house with so called dual pane windows you can never really hear the rain patting against your windowpanes. After all they are dual pane like I said! To me there is nothing more beautiful than lying in my bed at night and hearing the puddles outside give off some nice music as they fill up with the rain. The next time it rains, just have a window open and try and hear the sounds of those droplets dancing on the puddles as they fall from the sky! It is wonderful!

It is amazing what good food can do to your senses! Just the other day I was at a local salad bar enjoying my lunch with my family. It was time for dessert and of all the sumptous varities of desserts there, one that really tickled my senses was this Bran cake with walnuts and bananas. My gosh, one bite and I was in heaven! Rich, decadent, satisfying! Wonder why my cakes never taste like this, not that I am a lousy cook, but this one had some magic to it! Never ever have I tasted such a wonderful cake! Pure heaven! I almost got up from my seat to go and personally thank the chef for this delectable delight but I found myself going for another helping instead ! Yeah, this is what good food does to you. I thanked the chef heart of hearts for giving me the opportunity to sink my teeth into the absolutely amazing!
Infact when I was gorging on it I just couldn't help but make these really satisfying sounds much to the chagrin of my hubby! Who cares! You are transported to another world when your palate hits great food. It is really difficult to describe what I experienced that day when I ate that cake! But the taste is going to linger on forever!

I have been itching to blog an article for a while but something or the other kept coming inbetween until this manglore pub incident happened and hell broke loose in Karnataka. Not only was the whole thing absurd and idiotic it was downright shameful ! It brings hindusim in the limelight for sure but for all the wrong reasons. Whoever gave these SRS men the rights to bring about a "change" in our culture??! Who are they to take law into their own hands and just how dare they assault the woman! Is that what hinduism teaches? This is nothing but goonda-ism and these men are nothing but hoodlums!

What had me in splits was this new nonsense on the block! Sending the SRS men PANTIES for Valentine's day! Yes, you read it right! PINK PANTIES that too! How ludicrous! This is going to be a trend setter for sure. The next time you see the courier boxes being sent across just before V'day or on the day of it you are rest assured what that box holds! Yup! PINK PANTIES! Not that it is not already happening but now you know for sure! Also, be prepared to see V- cards and balloons with pictures of PINK PANTIES! Why ! Let me also tell you that the cards will hold some beautiful rhymes about PINK PANTIES with all due respect to the writers who write them!
This can go on and on and on!

Just a couple of days back a very close friend of mine shared some really sad news with me. One of her close relatives had taken seriously ill and was in the ICU. We both started talking about how we feel being so far away from our folks who live in India. I coudn't help but think about the vagaries of life, how being across seven oceans makes us all feel so helpless! Everytime there is a phone call from India at odd hours of the day my heat skips a beat! Is everything hunky dory back home in India or has someone ....yes, the mind can imagine the worst things at times. The very thougth that I will have to cover thousands of miles to reach my near and dear ones if in problems in India is nerve racking! By near and dear ones I mean my parents and my siblings. I am not being pessimistic but when you hear bad news you tend to put yourself in the similar situation and have your mind run a marthon !

My husband and I have thougth of going back to India for good sometime in the future! Being in a land where you are a second class citizen, where you are constantly reminded that this is not where you want to retire in your life makes me ponder about why we are here in the first place. For the green money? Far away from my culture, my people, my land! Is it really worth it? My father always says " don't worry about the parents, you have your lives to live, make the most of it wherever you are!" Yes dad you are right but it does pain at times to be so far away from you.
I do most definitely enjoy living in the land of opportunities, but when in a pensive mood, my mind starts wandering. I was telling my friend that I pray and hope I am close to my parents and siblings when they really really need me.

God bless my friend's relative!

Today is the day people are going to remember forever-BARACK OBAMA, the first ever black president of this country! I am happy to be a part of this century to see these turn of events unfold for this great nation. Had Martin Luther King Jr. been alive today he would have been one great example of a living person whose dreams really do come true.

Mr. President has a mammoth task of leading one of the world's greatest nations and he also carries with him the hopes and dreams of millions of americans who want to see their country along with him flourish and prosper even more with a sense of renewed spirit.

I hope he delivers and may god give him the strength and vision to uphold this nation's dream!
GOD BLESS OBAMA!

Today is the day maharashtrians celebrate Makar Sankranti along with scores of other Indians from different parts of the country (India) having different names for the same festival. This is what makes my country, India , so diverse and rich in her culture and traditions. A myriad of festivities, colour, foods associated with these festivities and etc is what keeps the country so vibrant!

I do miss being in India around the festival time. There is pure magic and delight in being a part of the festivals and there is so much to learn from them. More so if you are living with older people in the house who explain to you why the rituals are done with way they are done. Celebrating festivals anywhere in the world gives you feeling of purpose, a sense of pride about your religion and all that it beholds. Above all, I think, it gives you a sense of community.

Today when I was preparing the sweets for Sankranti I was taken back to my childhood days when my mother used to make "gud chappatis" for Sankranti. She still does! I am so proud of her for instilling in me a sense of pride and love for our religion and culture. That I still don't know a great deal about Hinduism is not important in this context. What is important is that I continue these traditions and practices and pass it on to my kids, to keep alive our rich culture. With each passing generation it is disheartening to see the kids not knowing anything about their religious practices or the likes of it. For me it is a bad thing. I myself have become lazy about some of them. Why? Have we started taking things for granted? Is that why? Or have we just stopped bothering about it? Whatever be the reason, I have decided I am going to make my children pride on their culture and religious practices. It is an enormous task for me but I am positive it is going to be definitely worth a try or should I say, worth a few hundred tries!

Jai Bharat!

Boy oh boy! Today's kids are smart or what! I was quizzing my 5 year old about something and he had some pretty sharp answers. He understood the look on my face ( it was an expression of "wow, how did he know that?") and said " I know mom I am smart". To be honest I did not like that coming from him (though heart of hearts I was proud of him). Yeah! Yeah! we want our kids to be confident and smart but whatever happened to modesty? Well! I do not expect my 5 yr old to undertand this virtue but that is where my role as a parent comes in. So I looked at him and said " sweetheart, we do not boast about ourselves ." His reply almost made my drop the utensil I was holding. He said " then why do we have a sentence I am smart?" I was so dumbfounded! I did manage to come up with some anwers which I only hope his little mind comprehended and believed!

What a way to begin the new year! Getting up on 1st morning, all excited about what the new year is going to bring in, I walked up to the TV room and guess what! Another bomb blast, this time in Assam, India. The first thought that went through my mind was "damn, enough is enough". What kind of a world do we homo sapiens inhabit today? A world full of nefarious activities, brutal killlings, power struggles -the list is endless and mind boggling.

The morning news totally dampens your spirit and makes you go about the rest of the day in a haze! I was in a state of shock like many others after 26/11. I was livid at what the terrorists had done to the city, to her soul, to her inhabitants! I feel so helpless, so vulnerable! The next day you hear some more horror stories of the kind happening else where on the globe. Is this the world we are leaving behind for our children? Think about it.

I am not a pessimist. I can see the good things happening around me too, but somewhere down the line I feel we humans are becoming terribly materialistic , at times also behaving like babarians. Where is the difference between the animals and us? Animals behave the way they do because it is a question of survial. It is for us too, but at the cost of someone else's life? Where have our powers of reasoning gone? Isn't that what differentiates us from the animal kingdom?

Tomorrow is going to be just the same! More heinous crimes happening somewhere, more people dying and the cycle is endless!

I am home alone right now! The kids have gone for their swimming lessons with daddy dearest. I was waiting for this "time for myself" since morning and when it did arrive I am hating it. Why? you may ask. I don't watch the idiot box because I am not much of a TV buff so there is no sound or anything of that sort to keep me connected to the human voice. In this country the silence around can be defeaning. Absolute pin drop silence. I can hear my own heart beats! That's when it suddenly dawned on me that living alone can be a horrifying experience for many. Ofcourse, those who live alone do have some activities of some sort to keep themselves mentally and physically active. But when you are in those weird moments all alone to yourself, then what? I am sure as humans we do have those moments at times. Someone rightly said an empty mind is a devil's workshop.
Right now all I am doing apart from blogging is looking at the door and wondering when the 3 men of my life will start pounding on it to have me let them inside the house! AHA! I hear them! I am very happy that the "time for myself" time elasped pretty soon! Adios to you devils!