Thinking of my Baba today

So thankful for the link my Baba (grandfather) created between me and his grandfather Dr. Makund Ram Sharma by reciting his writings ( and other poets’) and sowing the seeds for appreciation of poetry! 

Dr. Makund Ram Sharma was a doctor, poet, and social reformer. I am not sure of the exact year of his birth but I guess it to be early1860's. He died in 1941. My Baba was upset that he passed away just a few days before the birth of his first great-grandson, my father. Many of his poetries included a mix of Hindi, Urdu, and even English because he did not feel bound by any rules when it came to speaking his mind. When he needed to say something, he used whichever words conveyed his thoughts and ideas. HIs 'Takiya Kalam' (signature) was 'मुहकिक'' which means 'seeker of the truth'. This probably was the purpose of his life which he passed on to his grandson, my grandfather, by naming him 'Satya'  (truth). The influence Dr. Makund Ram Sharma had on his grandson reflected in the way he carried out his life, living up to the meaning of his name all the way.

Just the other day in an interesting discussion with friends I got reminded of this one by him- 

Atoms with energy, हर जिस्म ख़ाक शामिल

हर लम्हा ये बदलते, तुम देखो या ना देखो

कुछ ज़र्रे होते दाखिल , कुछ ज़र्रे होते ख़ारिज 

करते अजब करिश्मे, तुम देखो या ना  देखो 

ताक़त मिली जुली है, मुफरित नहीं 'मुहकिक''

हम रूह इसको कहते, तुम देखो या ना  देखो 

Meanings - 

जिस्म - Body 

ख़ाक - Earth /Dirt/Soil

शामिल - Included /Inclusive

लम्हा - Moment

ज़र्रे  - Very small particles /atom

दाखिल - Enter

ख़ारिज  - Dismiss

करिश्मे - Wonders

ताक़त - Strength

मिली जुली - All together

मुफरित - Separate

मुहकिक - Seeker of truth 

रूह - Soul

️

Laughter is the best medicine

While discussing which board games involve strategic and critical thinking -

Avi : Chess is really a great game and promotes problem solving skills.

Neev (who does not enjoy Chess as much as his older brother) : What about Life (another board-game) ?

Avi : (shakes his head)

Neev : Oh yeah ? Do you know you can end up having two wives on that game ?


:):)

Skiing in Winter Place , WV and Pilot Mountain State Park trip in January 2017

I have been slacking in recording our family events on the blog and a huge weekend was left out. We made our maiden attempt in the wold of snow-sports.  Kids certainly did better than us with only one day of ski school. In one day Avi was able to go from bunny slopes to blue level. I on the other hand was not able to master even the bunny slope, however, when able to glide without falling, it was an enjoyable experience.
On the way back we all stopped at Pilot Mountain and hiked to the top. Having friends for company was priceless! 

Spring Break 2017

After spending  a couple days with our friends in the rented house near Art of Living Ashram we did outdoor Zip-lining in Boone (Hawksnest ziplining). It took a bit of convincing but both boys agreed to try it and had a blast going over the waterfalls, ponds and through the trees. There was even a rope bridge. We had tried indoor zip-lining before but doing it outdoors was a very different and fun experience.
We also managed a sweet and short trip to Washington DC. We spent one entire day at Udvar-Hazy national air and space museum and boys were just thrilled to see 'Discovery', 'SR 71 Black Bird' , 'Enola Bay' , 'Concord' and the first Boeing. Our Docent was a very funny and knowledgeable gentleman whose personal stories made for a wonderful tour of the museum.
Very close to the museum is 'Sully Historic Site' and even though we were late to tour the house, we were still able to go around it and enjoy a beautiful afternoon stroll.

The next day we took the hop and stop bus tour to see all the monuments and museums. We enjoyed the beautiful sunny day walking around the city's national mall area. At Arlington Cemetery, we watched the change of guard ceremony and paid our respects. Though most of the cherry blossoms had already bloomed, we found a few lovely pink beauties in their full glory there.
We were able to spend a few hours at Museum of Natural History where the highlight for all of us was to see "Hope Diamond".  We had our very own personal guide Avi to tell us all about it :)
After walking around 10 miles during the day, twilight tour in open top bus was the best decision ! We rested our feet while admiring the night lights and lit-up monuments in the dark. The trip proved to be a great reminder for us to appreciate the democratic values that this country stands for.

Over the Hill and Over the Moon

I have not written a post in a long time. I feel this astounding desire today to pour out my feelings or I am afraid my heart, weak and strong at the same time from the amount of love I felt last night is going to burst . Once, as I leaned my head on shoulders of the love of my life on a train journey while looking at the passing moon from the window, he told me "I feel so happy tonight, I could die". He verbalized what I felt too in that moment. I hope everyone gets to feel this way at some point in their life-time and I feel lucky that I got to experience it more than just once.

I turned forty last month and my friends put together an evening of celebration that will be etched in my heart for as long as I live. Right from hand-made personalized decorations made by my friend' sweet daughter, cake, food (served on a silver platter....yes a silver platter), carefully thought-out games, video messages from all my family in India , heartfelt poems written and beautiful words spoken for me, dances choreographed just for me to a lovely sentimental photo collage capturing 40 years of my life and super delicious home-baked Russian tea cakes packed so well for the goody-bag that nobody could believe it came out of my friend's home-kitchen oven......everything was just perfect!

I am overwhelmed with emotions and love I felt in one night from all my friends and family. I will never know why universe chose to bless me with this circle of people but I want to convey to each one of them that in your presence I feel the inspiration and in your love I feel the grace of God!

My wish for all of us is to keep following our paths with passion, keep facing the challenges that are yet to come, and keep sharing the moments & memories that we hold so dear in our heart !

Thank you so much for being in my life!!

Trip to Universal Studios - October 2015

Completely missed recording one of the most awesome experiences of kids in Universal Studios, Orlando, FL last October.We stayed at Disney's flagship property 'Grand Floridian'- a  beautiful resort !! I was there for a client conference in Disney . My family also met up with my team and enjoyed the viewing of 'Fantasmic' in Hollywood Studios from private viewing area while having dinner and dessert.
I could not accompany hubby and kids to Universal but heard account of their visit and knew that they had a blast. They are huge fans of Harry Potter and could not stop talking about the wonderful times they had riding to Hogwart, having butter beer and feeling thrilled by their magical experience.

Busch Gardens and Water Country USA, Williamsburg, VA, July 9th weekend

3 days spent in these 2 parks turned out to be not the ideal way of having a vacation since we are not really roller-coaster (type) family ;) . It gave me headache and Avi nausea by just looking at the people hanging upside down and vertically dropping from slides like Mach Tower. BUT we were determined to try and make the most of it and we did! We all enjoy music shows and  'Oktoberfest' in Germany was really nice. Live band musical performance and another show called 'All for One and One for all' were nice too. Walking around in different countries, looking at the authentic setup of each one (our favorite country was Germany), beautiful landscaping and visiting different stores was my favorite part . Avi liked 'Auto Bahn' (bumper cars) , whirl wind, sky line tours, Rapids, Ruins of Pompei but his favorite was watching  'Pet shenanigans'. He made us catch the show twice to watch a 58 years old parrot 'Stevie' do math . It was impressive to watch a parrot answer addition, subtraction, multiplication and division problems - all accurately! Neev's favorite ride was 'curse of the dark castle' and he went on it 3 times. Celtic Fyre live show in Ireland would have been awesome since hubby and I LOVE Celtic music but it was not scheduled that day so it was a big disappointment:( 
Water Park was all about....well water ! Wave riding, lazy river and small water slides were our favorites.
We brought kids' friends with us and of-course having buddy-company was their favorite part!

Mount Soma, Asheville downtown, Chimney Rock State Park on 4th July weekend

Woke up on Sunday at 11 AM and just decided to go to mountains because in our busy lives we almost never have a free weekend ! A quick packing , hotel reservation for a night and tons of enthusiasm was all that was needed for the road trip. We went to Mount Soma , Clyde, NC where Hanuman Temple is located. Drive is pretty, very much like when we go to Art of Living Ashram in Boone. A big Hanuman Ji statue and a temple atop a small hill along with a visitor's center that serves lunch and dinner on weekends, few very nice homes all sitting in the lap of hills. 

After visiting temple we strolled in the streets of beautiful Asheville downtown, abuzz with people, restaurants and music. The famous Indian restaurant 'Chai Paani' was full so they sent us over to another restaurant called MG Road which served their food.  We ordered Chicken and Paneer Tikka wraps and non vegetarian Thali. Wraps were great, couldn't say the same thing about Thali. 

Night was spent in the same hotel where we made reservations when my sister visited us six years ago - nostalgic!

Next day was 4th July- no better way to spend it other than logging 15000 steps to climb on top of Chimney Rock and going down to Hickory Nut Falls (This 404 foot waterfall at Chimney Rock Park is one of the highest waterfalls east of the Mississippi River ) while appreciating everything our 'Karm Bhoomi" has to offer.

In Chimney rock, we spotted a baby copper head where kids were just about to sit, also saw a water snake in the waterfalls. Great Save!

Sitting under the shadow of fluttering flag of USA, we thanked all those who fought for freedom and appreciated every opportunity that we have been provided with, by this amazing country. Happy Fourth!!

Spring Break 2016

Mountain Home rented for a weekend in Boone, right next to Art of Living Ashram. House not so impressive but surrounding made up for it! Great company of friends, great food and times !! Among other things my friends discovered  that I don't joke when I tell them about my poor reflexes of getting startled at the slightest of triggers and I can scream like no one else when presented with a scary situation. Ghost stories in the nights, few light pranks made for a hostel like fun break for me :)

Vacation in India in Dec 2015 and Jan 2016 and Avi's 11th birthday

In between meeting family and friends during our trip to India we celebrated new year's eve and  Avi's 11th birthday in Pune with lighting firecrackers, Chicken Biryani and Chocolate Cake! He is as tall as me and a book worm. Both brothers enjoyed the free time and company of their cousin Shaurya.

 Some of the highlights -

A trip to children's park followed by ice cream treat and visiting a pet shop.

Visiting Lavasa City- I tried Jet Ski. The drive was really winding but the city appeared to be planned. 

Trip to Bhigwan bird Sanctuary -It turned out to be a great day! Our family seemed to be the only visitors and we went in a row-boat. The entire lake was ours and we were the only spectators of the birds. After getting down on the shore, on our way back to the car, Neev was running like a free bird himself without a care when I heard a cry from him. He landed in a deep puddle covered  with algae so dense it did not look like a pond ,making it partly the reason that Neev did not notice it. It was scary but I pulled him out and he was covered with this slimy green stuff from head to toe. He was embarrassed but it was so funny that after the momentary scare, we could not stop laughing at the way he looked - color green and brown covered his whole face, hair and body. We dealt with it as best as we could and got another great story in our pocket about Neev :)

  Another first was to eat Lobsters of our own choosing. Ashwin took us to Nisarg which is a famed seafood restaurant in Pune. We were presented with live lobsters on our table to pick the size we wanted to order. I was grossed out but the rest of the family enjoyed the meal. India is heaven for sweets and we could not have enough of Dadu's sweets emporium. Lip smacking desserts presented beautifully!!

Trip to Badaun is another post.
 All in all - great family times to be thankful for!!

Badaun December 2015

Trip to Badaun was a train ride and a chance for the boys to get dirty in Nanu's farm. One week was spent around the fire place (it was very cold) where my dear husband relished the non vegetarian delicacies of Kababs & Curries with Roomali Roti, Biryani and Fish. I kept my toes warm around the fire, soaking in the heat and the nostalgia trapped in the thick old walls of our home where I grew up. Last time Baba was there in the bed which now comforts my father. My children occupied that same double bed during our visit.  The room in which I spent my high school years now holds stock of blankets and pillows, sheets and trunks, and in their neat folds also remain wrapped up plans , practices, laughter, aches, aspirations, hopes and dreams. I spent the week with my father and brother around the old fireplace, feeling fascinated with glow of embers & cackling of fire. It made me feel riveted to the spot. That room stood monument to so much what influenced my life that I could almost see those events in my mind. It felt like I was in the center and all those events and people circled me like a whirlwind. So many people from that circle are not there anymore but it felt as if I could hear them call my name. It felt as if they would show up from the kitchen or bedroom or sun room, calling out my name.
My father told stories of his childhood, youth and Army days.  He is a great narrator with voice modulation and accents to keep the listeners engaged. He is not the one to run out of topics for a conversation, however I don' t remember growing up chit- chatting with him. He was a busy guy always taking care of needs. Now I realize there is so much to him that I never knew about.I video taped him reading an excerpt from a book. We talked about Hindi literature, Urdu poetry, music and the writers and artists in our region, his views about the world and so much more. He spoke and we listened......not much different from how it used to be with Baba.....same room ,,,,same walls. So much of my making was done in that home before bidding farewell. It was time to leave once more ......so I could go back again.

Tidbits

Scene - Car Ride with a friend to a singing show and I was co-hosting the show.
Friend - Neev, I bet you can be one of the singers in case of an emergency.
Neev- Nah, my singing career is done, I am retired!!

By the way he is only 8 :)

Spruce Pine Trip July 23-26th

We met up with out of country friends and spent 3 days with 5 other families in a GORGEOUS house in Spruce Pine. The house was HUGE and surrounded by mountains with a hot tub strategically placed to enjoy that beautiful view. Kids had a memorable time with their friends playing and doing a Decathlon designed by our very dear friend. Following were the activities (Names are in Sanskrit)-
Yatatmavan
Sai Isa
Chitrakar
Padprahar
Alpa Kshetram
Abhiyanta, Abhiyantri
Haranti Grahanam
Chinoto
Pratisarnam
Pratibha Pradarshnam

Personal highlight for me was to win the Pool Table championship. That's right - I WON IT!!  Didn't know I had it in me :)

We all went on a rafting trip with Earth and River Adventures and had an amazing time ! Those guys are awesome and if you think rafting, you must think of them. Half way through the French Broad river we took a break , had delicious lunch and got hot-stone massage of our backs. Kids were so brave to dive into river from 15 feet high rock and swimming into the rapids.

Late night singing, chatting, playing cards, making s'mores using the fire pit outside the house were among the special moments !! Indeed a memorable trip!!

Mountain Trip to Linville Falls, NC

4th of July weekend celebrated with friends staying in a cabin at Banner Elk, visiting Art of Living Ashram in Boone, hiking in Linville Falls and visiting W. Kerr Scot Dam & Reservoir for an awesome picnic.
Highlights:
Avi becoming Foosball champion, defeating Daddy. Later Daddy managed to avenge it, took the title and refused to a rematch :)
Seeing wildlife during walk around the cabin
Anurag and I sitting on porch on pitch dark night, just chatting up
Sitting in Hot Tub with friends, sipping wine with torched lamps around us while it was drizzling.
Late night card games like Spoons.

I am ready for another getaway!

Avi marks double digits, celebrates at Disney World, Orlando

Happy Tenth to my first born !! A decade of one's life is a big milestone. My little peanut who came into this world weighing little over six pounds is now almost 5 feet tall. Where did the time fly?

Avi is a new year's baby and that itself is special but this particular one had extra-special written all over it. So after celebrating Christmas in Atlanta with family we headed to Disney World for celebrating  Avi's big ten. Our home for the week was the lovely resort Village Vistana by Sheraton. Avi's birthday dinner was at Planet Hollywood in down town Disney where we said cheers to my baby in our special lighted/glowing glasses (made for great souvenirs:))

We visited Magic Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, Epcot and Animal Kingdom. Realized that our Park hopper tickets did not serve its purpose and paying so much extra money for it was not fruitful since we really never hopped between any parks. Planned a day at one Park, stuck to it and that was it. First 2 days were spent in Magic Kingdom, my favorite park ! This is the busiest time of the year for Disney so lines were long but fast passes for 3 rides a day were very helpful.

Our first two days were at Magic Kingdom. It is divided into 6 main areas-Main Street, Adventure-land, Frontier-land, Libery Square, Fantasy-land and Tomorrow-land.We got there really early the first day, caught the morning show with Micky at the castle with day fireworks. Started the rides in Fantasy-land. The first ride was 'mad tea party' and kids enjoyed spinning around in a giant teacup. Next we did 'Its a small world', 'Peter Pan's flight', 'Micky's Philhar Magic', 'Dumbo, the flying elephant', and 'the Barnstormer'. 'The Barnstormer' was kids' favorite in Fantasy-land. Neev also enjoyed 'The magic carpets of Aladdin ' in Adventure-land. My kids are not much into roller coasters but they went onto 'Big thunder mountain railroad' in Frontier land and Neev's precious comment,"all I had to do was tuck my head into Daddy's chest and it wasn't scary anymore" made it a ride to remember. In tomorrow-land we went on 'Tomorrow-land speedway', Buzz Lightyear's space ranger spin (Avi LOVED this one, shooting the bad aliens and scoring plenty of points, we did this ride twice :)), 'Monster's Inc laugh floor' , 'Astro orbiter' and 'Walt Disney's carousel of progress (my favorite, I got to sit for 20 minutes and relax:)) 'Haunted Mansion' in Liberty Square is a must do. We also rode in Liberty square river boat. Got ice-creams and other treats at Main Street bakery and then saw the holiday parade. Also watched electric parade in the evening (very very pretty). Of course the fireworks at the castle were amazing but their special light show and fireworks on New year's eve called 'fantasy in the sky' which was done at midnight was SPECTACULAR. Castle was just so.....pretty with winter snow lights in the evening that I did not feel like taking my eyes off of it. Really magical !!
Avi's birthday was spent in Epcot. 'Spaceship Earth' and 'Soarin' were amazing. 'Soarin' specially was very enjoyable. We were lifted off the ground and it was very similar to paragliding experience. It was a family favorite. Kids enjoyed 'Turtle talk with Crush' , Tthe seas with Nemo and friends','Living with the land' and Circle of life'. Anurag and I enjoyed watching Michael Jackson groove in 'Captain EO'. Neev had fun in 'Journey into imagination with figment' which is a fun place for the kids to dance, play and do various other activities. We also took a bus and then a water taxi to down town Disney to have dinner at Planet Hollywood.
Hollywood Studios' best feature was hazelnut latte:). Ok, I am just joking. We LOVED Indiana Jones show there. 'The great movie ride' was cool. 'Muppet Vision 3 D' was lame. Kids loved 'Toy Story midway mania' because of the target shooting and scoring theme. I was game for 'Tower of terror' but no one else supported me so we skipped it. I bet it's what it says :) .'Beauty and the beast live on stage show' was neat. 'Fantasmic' was good but I was not charmed. 'Star Tours' was pretty cool too and favorite of kids.
LOVED Animal Kingdom park. Asia is absolutely authentic and awesome. Found Hindi and Marathi written on shops. 'Kali river rapids' was a fun ride, not scary at all, but be ready to get splashed. We had rain ponchos, kept us dry. While you wait in the line , you can admire Bollywood movies posters stuck on walls :) You can also nosh on 'samosas & chai' in Mr Kamal's cafe here. Anandpur's Ice cream truck has great treats. And after regaining your energy with samosa, you can groove on Bollywood beats by Indian DJ :). In Dino-land, we enjoyed taking off on a rip roaring pre-historic tour in the dark to save a dinosaur from extinction in 'Dinosaur' ride. Very neat ! Kids enjoyed going on 'TriceraTop Spin' where we flew high on a friendly dinosaur above Dino-land. 'Its's tough to be a bug' in Discover Island is a not to be missed show. Its done in their amazing tree of life theater which is created in its root system. While you wait in the line you can admire the breathtaking artistry of swirling tapestry of animals sculpted on the tree that depict the intricate balance of nature. The show is great, packed with 3 D adventures and creepy crawly moments. Spiders coming out from the ceiling is really nice touch. We LOVED Kilimanjaro Safari in Africa, riding off in an open vehicle for a tour of lush African Savanna and saw Lions, Elephants, White Rhinos (endangered), Antelopes, Mandrills, Cheetah, Crocodile, Flamingo, Gazelle, Giraffe, Zebra, Hippos, Warthog, Wildebeest, Ostrich and Okapis. Ride is bumpy and mimics the real Safari so you have to hold on tight through its rugged terrain. 'Festival of the lion king' was another favorite in Africa. It was very similar to watching a circus. Beautiful costumes, gorgeous colors and very talents acrobats made for a great show but the best part was that Neev participated in the show and we got a really memorable video :)
I have to say that it was a very activity-intense vacation with lots of walking and planning. Its not my ideal way of a get-away BUT I will take family-time any day and any way :) Lots of chatting with my kids and sharing of Aha moments is my take-away from Disney World. As far as lounging sort of vacation is concerned, spring-break is not too far off :)
Happy New year y'all !

Calligraphy and love letter ?

While deciding the school electives for 3rd and 4th quarter Anurag tries hard to convince Avi to pick Modern Dance or Tap Dance. Avi puts his foot down and lets out a strong NO to anything dance related. Anurag relents but only on the condition that Avi would pick Calligraphy. Avi wants to do Design Engineering .Anurag does not want Avi to do anything in math and science area and persuades him to pick something artistic/creative.

Anurag - "Believe me, this is going to be really useful for you, being able to express yourself in a skillful hand writing".

Avi - "now come on Daddy , I am not going to be writing love-letters".


 

This is the one for heart

Anurag was in CA last week, traveling for work. We were texting each other and somewhere in between Neev got hold of my phone and sent his FIRST TEXT to Daddy, perfectly spelled. It read -
I love you so much better than anything else in the world love Neev
 

Bed, Bath and WHAT ?

When it comes to shopping, its clear that my boys and their Dad always try to wriggle their way out (unless its a store like Radio Shack or Game stop). There are many stores where I shop that they are not familiar with. It happened to be one of those days when I HAD to go shopping and drag Neev along with me. We went to Bath & Body Works and then had to make a stop at Bed Bath and Beyond. Neev was exhausted and bored, and this is how the conversation rolled -

Neev - Mommy, we already went to sooooo.......many stores.
Me: Yes Love but I really need to pick some things at Bed Bath and Beyond, it shouldn't take long.
Neev: Whaaaaat ??? But we already went to this store.
Me : No Love, that was Bath and Body Works, its a different store.
Neev (in an exasperated voice and tone ) : Fiiiiiiiine , let's just get done with this whole "Bed Bath and (paused after saying 'and',  tried to think the full name of the store but obviously could not remember  'Beyond') Whoopi Shower" business !!

So now "Bed Bath and Beyond" is "Bed, Bath and Whoopi Shower" in our household and according to Neev when you talk about Bath, Shower is a natural thing to think of !!  :):):)

Funny Neev

So we are not allowed to say 'shut up' in our house but what do you do when you really want someone to do that? My 7 years old takes advantage of Samskritam classes he is taking and shouts "MookamSamvak" in Samskritam :)

On our way to Anniversary dinner kids picked one parent each to support (I don't remember/don't have a good reason what persuaded them) and started listing why Mommy or Daddy is stronger/better. Avi was supporting Mommy and Neev was taking Daddy's side. After a few minutes of comparing things like Daddy is taller, Mommy talks more (really !!!), Daddy attends more meetings, Mommy attends more parties, Daddy works out more, Mommy works more, it came down to Daddy drives the truck and Mommy drives the car. Avi thought he won the round by mentioning that Daddy's truck is a Toyota and Mommy' car a Lexus, Neev  immediately snapped, "Oh yeah ? Toyota has more letters than Lexus". Well what do you say to that?