Snow of Jan, 2005

India for vacation

21 days of home after 297 days at pardes... wow! thats the max i've ever been away from home! cant think I cant do that again...

All my aunts and cousins had made sure they were at home for those 21 days...:) Was enjoying the celebrity status at my grans place- a small village. Apparently, got to know some trivia related to me --that I was the first girl to have flown to US... there are few more that modesty doesn’t permit me to disclose..;) These 21 days brought another new revelation - on the number relatives I had..Figured that most people in my village were related to me!..:)

Also granma and mom wanted to make sure there were no evil forces disturbing me... and in that order there were numerous poojas offered to numerous gods and godesses...:) Granma would perform an excercise( thats usually performed for just-borns) to rid me of my "drishitis" at the end of everyday that I spent at bengre ..:)

Birthday was at Kudremukh, with ma and pa. Ma had planned visits to sringeri and Hornadu on the same day..:)

those were the fastest 21 days of my life...
Couldnt bear to see the sight of amma, papa and neetu waving at Bajpe airport!... Perhaps, the only send off ever, that I never turned back for a second glance! Couldnt feel the exhilaration of being among the clouds! Couldn’t remember looking at anybody around me in the eye at airport! Couldn’t remember when I boarded the flight and when I reached Mumbai! Only remember desperately trying to recollect and relive each moment of those 21 days in my head—as if I did not recount them, the moment would just disappear for ever!

Sid was at the airport to pick me up. His dad had expired a few days back and it was his first day outside home. Met his mom- a lovely lady who made me feel much better—she kept talking all the time about everything and nothing! I think she liked me. She had made arrangements for me to sleep in her room. We kept chatting long after the lights were off( just like sis and I do with mom)—some where, she also asked if I was particular about the caste of the guy I would marry…J If not, she had this very goog natured richie rich IT chap who would be an ideal suit for a girl-with-indian-values ( ya.. she was referring to me..:)) I politely declined and mentioned my mom would come running with stick in hand to spank me if I ever thought of any guy outside my caste..:) [ that’s almost true]

In the morning, aunty playfully mentioned that I had fallen asleep while she was talking. Sid and I visited the Sidhi Vinayak temple in the morning before heading to the airport- A lovely temple—Was surprised by the number of people at 5.30 am!

Thanks Sid and Aunty for making my first time in Mumbai- outside the airport such a memorable experience.

The trip to London was pleasant- Had a guy from ISB by my side- A friendly smart chap. Chatted most of the time. He was attending an interview at London. Also met a college senior on the same flight. Had begun to get back to the same feeling that I had while flying from mang to Mumbai—the picture of my mom, dad and Neetu waving good bye kept flashing and I was almost on the verge of a breakdown, when there was a pat on my back--- It was Pavana… She shifted to the ISB guy’s seat. We spent the remaining time in filling each other with all that we’d done. Both of us were avoiding the topic of –mom- and that suited both of us!

Gaurav was waiting to pick us up at O’hare.. haven’t felt happier to see him. In a strange way though it was sad to be away from home, I was happy to be back also! At home, Anuroopa greeted us with a warm smile… it was feeling good to be back in 404. Gagan and Arvind came over to see us. . Vijaya and Sneha also followed in a while. Prashant came in after almost everyone had left. And then Anshu also came over to see Pavana.

I was really happy to see them all. Of course, all of them had the same question to ask— were we(Pavana and I) engaged?...:)

Over the next few days learnt that the vacation made me realize how much I meant to my ppl and made me more sure than ever that I wanted to be around my folks, sharing their chindi-chindi day-to-day troubles! Being there among them to share all the li’l nothings, somethings and everythings was what actually made me happy!

New Yr

thrilled to have a hindi number play at Eves.
Booz..n Dance... yep we danced our way into the new yr..:)