The peace..

Spent early morning sitting on a park bench near a misty pond, surrounded by ducks of all shapes, sizes and colours with fresh dew on the grass under my feet and quacks ringing loudly in my ears. It was peaceful :).

The truth :-D

Pardo's First Postulate to Murphy's law: "Anything good in life is either illegal, immoral, or fattening."
Arnold's Addendum: "Anything not fitting into these categories causes cancer in
rats."

Sad, but true :-p.

The punishment :-D

Snugli is the featured student for 2 weeks at her school and hence this is my punishment ;-) :-D - a poster featuring her and everything she loves :).




The things parents need to to when their kids are in school!!!

I don't really like this type of manipulating from the schools. How does it make me a good mom/parent if I am concentrating more on the poster than the kids? We were out of town on the weekend and the teacher suddenly dumped this on us on Monday (no warnings at all and it was needed "right now"). Moreover Sri, God bless him, doesn't have a single artistic bone in his body, so I came up with the concept, designed the template, got the photo printouts, cut them all out, glued everything together literally in 24 hours all with a cranky baby and an extremely inquisitive pre-schooler around. All this to please a few teachers because Snugli hardly paid any attention to it and I'm sure her classmates would have been the same :-p. I could have done a shabby job, but the perfectionist in me had to get it right :-p. Basically, I think it becomes a matter of pride for the parents.

I'm already ruing the day when Sunny will be all grown up. Proud of myself though :).

The concern :)

This happened about 3 weeks back, you know why I haven't been able to put it up ;-).

One day while I am feeding Sunny, Snugli comes and sits right next to me.

Snugli: "Amma, puttu baby amma hotteinda bantha?" ("Mom, did the baby come from mom's stomach?")
Me: "Huun." ("Yes.")

(Whenever she troubled me too much, I told her that since the baby came from my stomach, I had aches and pains all over and so she asks)

Snugli: "Amma, ninge hotte abbi idya?" ("Mom, does your stomach hurt?")
Me: "Huun."
Snugli: "Amma, ninge bennu abbi idya?" ("Mom, does your back hurt?")
Me: "Huun."
Snugli: "Amma, ninge kai kaalu abbi idya?" ("Mom, do your arms and legs hurt?")
Me: "Huun."
Snugli: "Amma, naanu Walgreens hogi medicine tharthene. Ninge abbi ella hothade." ("Mom, I'll go to Walgreens and get some medicine for you. All your pains will be gone."). Walgreens is a pharmacy store here.

:).

On a side note, typing a post on iPhone, moreover by left hand is HARD :-p.

The audacity!

Some people are so full of themselves! (Another huge rant in progress, consider yourself warned :-p)

Today morning I get this message from a person saying "don't u answer u'r freinds e mails". Now this person was my best friend in childhood and we have been touch for many years thanks to my efforts and absolutely no thanks to her (my calling her "person" instead of "friend" shows you how angry I am). We lost touch a couple of years back thanks to her constant changing of phone numbers. No, I can't even say we lost touch because I have her email and kept mailing her on her special days - her birthday, anniversary, her kids' birthdays and so on. And she never replied a single thanks. Plus I have told you how fond I am of sending photos to friends and relatives once or several times a month (:-p), she is in my mailing list and again, she never ever, not once, got back on whether she even saw the photos.

Out of the blue last week, I get a message from her giving her yet-another-changed-phone-number and asking me for my contact details (this is despite the fact that my phone numbers haven't changed since 6 years, from the time I came to US). Thanks to a 1.5 month old that was born to me and that I'm quite busy caring for (which again I had informed her through a mail), I haven't been able to keep up with all the communication. So I didn't, make that couldn't, reply. And I get this message from her today! I am so outraged, just what do people think of themselves? And how much do they expect of me? The more I do, the more I'm expected to do.

There have been many days in the past when I've gotten sick and tired of the whole thing and think I'll just quit putting in the effort. This is one of those days. But then again, I take a deep breath, tell myself that just because some people are atrocious, it doesn't mean that I should give up what I am and then make the effort again to keep in touch. But seriously, this was like I was literally stabbed with a long sharp knife. I wrote a blistering reply to her and being the goody-two-shoes that I am, I should have regretted it by now, but I haven't. One big part of me is very very very angry with her while another small part of me is actually sad - it feels like I have literally lost a friend. Or maybe I lost her years ago, have been deluding myself all these years with my puny efforts and am realizing it only now :(. How dumb I must be!

Update: She replied saying that she was busy with her household and kids for all this time and that she took liberties with me as she was "eager" to get back in touch with me. Oh well, I didn't know "eagerness" can translate to years and you know me, I am a free spirit without households and kids :-p. Anyways, enough of this subject, lets move on :).

The unoriginals!

Whats with Indian music directors these days? I'm so sick and tired of listening to old songs remixed and changed these days. Yeah there were remixes earlier in pop albums, but you didn't really have to listen to them unless you wanted to. These days the songs are in the movies and whenever I watch one, I end up being really mad. Is coming up with an original tune so difficult?

I especially become angry when I hear a favourite tune all jumbled up and made weird by these weirdos. The last straw was hearing "Ravivarmana kunchada" (originally sung by the great PB Srinivas) made all so-called modern (meaning destroyed) in the movie Buddhivantha (I know I'm late in pointing this out but bear with me since I caught up with the movie only now). If you can't come up with something nice, atleast please stop spoiling what was good. Is there no thing called copyright for these things?

The reality..

As the title states, this is what happens at our house at nights these days..

* Snugli falls asleep
* Sri falls sorta asleep..
* I feed Sunny and put her to sleep.
* Sri and I start to cuddle.
* Snugli wants to go potty and Sri takes her..
* Sri and I start to cuddle.
* Sunny starts crying, I console her and put her back to sleep.
* Sri and I start to cuddle.
* Sunny cries again, Sri changes her diaper, I swaddle her and put her back to sleep.
* Sri and I start to cuddle.
* Snugli starts sucking her thumb. One of us gets up, removes the thumb :-p.
....
..
..
.
So on and so forth until both of us are so exhausted that we fall asleep as soon as we hit the sack - the cuddling all forgotten :-p.

Its as if they ... {horror music}... Its as if they KNOW! ;-) :-D

Burptime story :-D

One thing moms with infants know is how difficult it is to burp babies. So whenever I get a successful burp out of Sunny these days, I involuntarily exclaim "Good job!".

I don't really have to tell you what happened next right?

One day Snugli after finishing her lunch comes to me, burps loudly and says "Look mom, I burped!" :-D.

Hehehee :))).

The one-sided conversation :-p

16th May 2011, Monday night:

Me: Just wished happy journey to Dad and Darsh who are taking a flight here :). I'm so excited! But man, oh man, I forgot to tell them that there'll be only..

The baby kicks.

Me: Uh, where was I? Yeah, there'll be only one customs form issued per family. I didn't even ask what they were doing about..

The baby kicks.

Me: If you keep interrupting my thought flow with your kicks, how am I supposed to think? :-p. Now what was I thinking about? Umm, immigration. I hope they..

Another kick.

Me: Man, I give up!

(I guess this little one is not even as patient as Snugli was when she was in my womb - she'd atleast listen to her mom's weird thoughts before proceeding with her timely kicks ;-) :-D, hehehe).

Saas bahu oh no!

One of Sri's technological projects as of now, is getting Indian cable channels here in the US over the internet without paying the outrageous dollar prices they charge here for the packages. Since I have never been really into it so far, you'll have to head to his blog for the technical details :-p. But what basically it is, is a kind of modem that connects to the Tata Sky modem in India and relays the transmission over the internet. The best part is that it can be accessed from anywhere as long as there is an internet connection - on a laptop, desktop or even the iPhone, the limit being that it can be accessed only once (once the player is switched on on any device, it can't be accessed from any other). There are still kinks being ironed out but its been working great so far and I'm impressed :).

Anyways the whole thing started because my parents were heading here and believe me when I say mom loves having it :). But you know the equation when it comes to moms,

Mom + Indian TV = Saas-bahu serials.

I have completely stopped seeing any of them since the time I moved to the US (I can download the episodes off the net, but have never had the slightest inclination to :-p) and I guess my aversion has turned into something of a drastic nature. A couple of the serials mom is into have been bearable so far, but mom wanted to watch this new serial that started recently called "Sasural Simar ka". Well, one day I ended up watching half an hour of it and I'm pretty sure thats the reason half of my hair is gone (I must have torn them out of sheer frustration :-p). From the silly plot to the constant focusing on faces, from the over-dramatized dialogues to the over acting, man, was it pure torture! I wonder whether this can be classified under enhanced interrogation techniques and whether hard-core criminals can be subjected to it. I'm sure they'll give up all kinds of information in just under 5 minutes :-p. And I wonder who comes up with the ideas for such serials, such people should be subjected to non-stop marathons of their own idiotic serials!

Anyways, I have decided to turn and walk out of the room if I ever even see a glimpse of this serial again. Thats the only way for my poor remaining hair to survive :-D.

The ice collection..

Sorry that I haven't been around much - my brain seems half shutdown these days, the reason for which will be up soon somewhere in the next post :-D.

Meanwhile, just putting up a photography post to tide things along. As I've been saying, things have been pretty bad around where I live, snow, ice, cold and sicknesses, we have had it all. And I just had to capture some of the ice around with my other eye - my camera. So they are all up on my photography page on Facebook. - Through Deepthi's Eyes photography. The below picture reminded me of a diamond ring (yeah, yeah whats with girls and diamonds :-p) and click on it to see the Icy album :-D.

The ignorant..

Wanted to post one incident from the Vegas trip, but forgot. Anyways this deserves a tweet of its own :).

We were walking through one of Vegas's casinos when we were approached by a man from a beauty shop.

He: "Hey! Are you guys from India?"
We: "Yes."
He: "Cool. Let me ask you one thing. What is the best thing you have for skin problems in India?"

Just as I am about to answer "Sandalwood", Sri replies "Turmeric".

He: "Did you know that it contains artificial components and chemicals?"

We both burst out laughing and didn't even stop to listen to what he had to say further :-D.

The people..

I am sometimes extremely surprised about some people's naiveté. I am not talking about children here, but about people who are generally older than me lacking in what according to me is basic knowledge or awareness, blindly following one thing or another without thought. Or maybe I'm the one thats cynical.

And then there are others who are so full of hypocrisy that it makes me dumb (something that can actually shut me up :-D). When each of your actions is miles and miles further from the words that come out of your mouth, then how can I be sure of what you are all about? Or maybe I'm the one thats naive ;-).

And I think to myself..
It takes all sorts to make this world..
It takes all sorts to make this world..
Repeat 10 times :-D.

The new year..

2010, for us, as you very well know, has had its ups and downs, happy times and not-so-happy ones, but until we know what bitter is, how will we learn to appreciate the other "good" flavours of life, right?

Its 1/1/11!! Looking forward to what 2011 has hidden under its wings :).

Wish you all a very happy and a prosperous new year from all of us..

The update..

Things have been hectic in the Deeps household to say the least. I know it has been quite sometime since my last post and I do have things to write but these days I simply seem to have an aversion to the computer, of all things! (Nice excuse, don't you think? :-D). First of all, we went on this hugggggge trip to Grand Canyon and Las Vegas on Thanksgiving weekend, so there is a huge travelogue to be written. Around that time, I somehow lost touch with my computer :-D, and somehow didn't have the urge to get back once we did get back. At first I thought it was a good thing (I am finally over my addiction to Mafia wars - a game on facebook I have been avidly playing for an year!), but now its getting in the way of my filtering/editing the photos, writing blog etc. Hopefully will get my enthu back, starting with this post.

Secondly, things have been crazy around Lexington since we got back. Its been snowing almost continuously, so its chilly, cold and cheerless :-p. Plus lucky us got an ice storm a couple of days ago, so every single thing around is frozen. There were these window-pane like ice panels frozen on the car, which I had fun breaking apart today - until one almost fell on my feet and brought me to my senses (most of these are sharp and you could get easily hurt). Plus every sidewalk is slippery - its almost like skating/skiing when you are trying to walk :-p. The temperature went as below as -1 degree Fahrenheit one night which is about -18 degree Celsius :-p. Good times :-p.

Thirdly, Snugli's 3rd birthday is coming up - so we, err I have been running around in preparations for that. Invites, bookings, stocking up on decorations, ordering cakes (yeah plural because she has a party at school) and what not! Plus there was a Christmas party at her school yesterday - in which she and her friends sang a couple of songs (she was totally the enthusiastic one of the troupe :-D, goes after her mom in that :-D), so there were some things needed for that. Sunday is her birthday and her birthday party for our friends here. Today was supposedly her party at school, but since her teacher and about 10 of her friends didn't show up, we postponed it to Monday (this despite my running around to get the cake and balloons for today :-\). Plus Snugli has a doc checkup coming up on Tuesday next week. So next week is all crazy now :-D.

Finally, above all this, Snugli has fallen ill. Poor thing, she has a cough and a fever and has generously passed some of it to Sri and me :-p :-D. She is lots better today, but I'm afraid that its not looking so good for the rest of the household. Hopefully we'll be able to hold it together for the parties ;-). Things just can't get better, can they? :-D.

I'll surely have a post up for Snugli's birthday, so see ya then :).

The awareness..

I had this weird/funny dream today that I just had to share.

I was being chased by these robotic creatures (courtesy of the movie "Transformers" that I watched yesterday) when I get to the top floor of this really hugggggge building. You can't even see anything below. From up there I throw my, wait for it, wait for it... iPhone to the unseen ground!!! Suddenly it was as if a switch flicked on between my subconscious and consciousness and I realized it was a dream (within the dream). My logical deduction-> "If this was real life I'd never be foolish enough to throw my iPhone from the top of a skyscraper" :-D. After just a second, that awareness passed and then I was running back below to save my iPhone ;-).

So there was a moment of sanity in a world of madness ;-) :-D, don't we all need that sometimes!

The conversation 2

She: That guy keeps staring at me!

A few seconds later..

He: Neighbour's envy, Owner's pride {grins}.

Men!!!

The clueless :-D

The baby blues guys are brilliant. This is something that happens at my house ALL the time :-p. Click to get the bigger picture ;-) :-D.

The question..

Today I was at the Walmart billing counter with Snugli, when the lady at the counter pointed to Snugli and asked me this -

"So are you going to arrange a marriage for her?"

Hehehee :).

The good twin ;-).

As I mentioned earlier, its the 5th birthday of my blog today :). And the gift is that I now have a copy of my blog (albeit private) on wordpress. Am yet to figure out how to setup the same theme and push all the photo-dependency from blogger to there. But one step at a time. Right now its a private blog, but if ever something happens to this blog here again, I'll take off and create the full fledged version there.

I said before that I was shocked to see all my posts gone. It was more than that, it was as if a part of me was torn apart. This shows you how much this blog has come to mean to me. I even declared that if I didn't recover the posts, I'd never blog again. But here I am :). I am so glad that all is well with my blog again (but that 1 post is still missing and google developers are yet to get back).

5 years. So many things have happened. Changes have come but some things have remained the same. My blog has become a companion whom I cannot afford to lose. Its not that I don't have any secrets from my blog, there are many things I don't write about here (there's still a part of me thats private and personal ;-) :-D). But for the most part, my blog is a reflection of my life. Its a day to day mirror, but remember even mirrors don't really show the true self of the person ;-) (the reflection is inverted duh!). Maybe there'll come a time when I'll open up more. Or maybe I'll become more close-mouthed about stuff (as if!). But what I do know is that I am going to be blogging for a long time.

Happy birthday blog, and here's to many more shared memories together :).