Missing Home!

First time... A Deepavali without....
1. The fun of going as a big group to buy new dresses and sarees.
2. The pride of telling dad, mom and brother 'this is on me' - take what you like.
3. Getting to taste fresh hot murukku, rava laddu, halwa, ribbon pakoda, mysore pa, mixture, boondhi, adhirasam and telling mom 'it's perfect' and to see her smile
3a. Making fun of the kitchen mishaps of mom and aunts
4. Dad forcing and indulging to take as many dresses as possible
5. Umpteen visits to the shops
6. Showing the new dresses to aunts, uncles, cousins and getting to see their new ones
7. Missing the TV shows to go around giving sweets and savories to neighbors, friends and relatives (not without complaining..)
8. Crackers, Crackers, Crackers, Crackers and Crackers
8a. Mary Aunty's 10000 walas
8b. Evening Fireworks at the park
9. Wishes over the phone to distant friends, relatives and acquaintances early in the morn
10. The Smog, the festive spirit and the crazy shopping crowd in T.Nagar
11. Giri Chithi's [only ;-)] speciality Thengai burfi
12. Knowing the latest trend from the young college goers
13. Introducing Darsh to new crackers
14. Dad, Mom, Sriram, Maama, maami, Lali chithi, Ilango Chithappa, Ravi maama, Gayathri maami, Giri Chithi, Suresh Chithappa, Vasantha akka, Karthi, Saravanan Anna, Arun, Vidya, Prakash, Ramya, Mouli, Harish, Abirami, Sri and Darsh.
15. The fun, the laughter, the joy...

A Deepavali...without all this...is just Vali.....

One of the frantic ways to feel at home :) look up on Google Maps

American'iced' Breakfast

Long since I saw, tasted a home made 'suda, suda idly'. Infact, in 4 months of my living here, I just had it once. Thanks to Uma(a friend's friend's cousin), who served us hot idlys soaked in delicious sambhar.

Actually, it is quite some time since I had our delicious Indian breakfast.
Gone are the days of Idly, dosai, upma, pongal, aapam, poori. It is funny how my reaction to idly has changed over time. Gone are the days when I grumbled 'how many days of idly? can't we have anything more delicious than steamed dough?'
Now, when I see idly, my face lightens up, a smile blossoms in my face instinctively and the eyes brighten up - If there is sambhar or gothsu to go with it, my lips and tongue go smacking!

All said and felt about glorious past, let us get to the sour truth. I do not have the luxury of time or resource to make Indian breakfast everyday. So, giving the excuse of health and diet, stick to cereals and milk. - Quite contrary to our Indian breakfast - cold, bland(only if not sweet), liquidy. But, this is the best of what I can have. A friend of mine here, is in bigger misery. He has bagels with jam for breakfast :) - cold, bland and rubbbery!!
Sometimes it becomes a little tough, when my roommate, an American, offers, lovingly, to make breakfast for me! Pancakes or crepes with maple syrup. Having a sweet breakfast is just not my plate of food('cup of tea' - phrase substitute)..

That reminds me! the tea varieties here! - I've spoken to so many tea-drinkers, tasted the varieties they praise and tried my best to acquire a taste for it... But they are just not my cup of tea. I have tried the mint, jasmine, crysanthemum, orange, what not? After 2 sips, it requires great lotta courage and determination to take the cup to the lip!

In a nutshell, naaku coma stage ku poiduchu

Aatha, naan fail aayiten!

NJ driving knowledge test is supposed to be one of the toughest in the US.

Yeah, I have to say that! coz, I flunked :)I did read the manual, but should admit that I went a little over-confident. According to me, the common-sense should be able to help in this exam.
But, guess it was not enough. Or, rather I did not have enough :)

For those who are not aware of the NJ-DMV process, it is an online test for 50 questions and you have to get atleast 40 correct.Ironically, I got 39 :(

Some of the questions that bowled me out:
When is the road most slippery?1. After the first few mins of rain 2. After a heavy rainfall3. After a storm4. All of the above
When the car skids, which side will you turn the wheel? (I skipped this qn to be answered later, and see what I got next)What is the first thing you do when the car skids?

My expression was...
Venaam! Azhudhuruven!

Rubies in Silver

A mastepiece of nature that I recently saw and admired...in New York Botanical Gardens.

Isn't it a beauty? Jewellers - check out. A design worth imitating!

btw, does anybody know the name of this flower?

After a long time...

Yes, am back.. and in good cheer!

Last few months had been a roller-coaster ride - up and down, twist and turn, good and bad, high and low, tears and joy, this and that..

Discovered few truths of Life.
1. One cannot write blogs sitting on a roller-coaster
2. One can't even read others' blogs riding on it
3. Not always can you behave as you wish to
4. It is better to knock on a closed door than to assume it will not open and walk past
5. If you knock and do get in, all who did not knock, will be upset with you
6. It is easy to punish but difficult to forgive somebody
7. It is difficult to punish but almost impossible to forgive a loved one
8. ikkaraiku akkarai pachai (transliterates to : For this side, that side, green)
9. My tongue hates bland food.. commits suicide if served with it for 3 full days
10. Keerai masiyal is one of the easiest, delicious, healthy dish that goes well with rice

Death Sentence

How does it feel to know that you are going to die tomorrow?
How does it feel to live through a day knowing that it is your last?
What is it like, to accept the fact without a choice or without fighting?
Do you believe in re-birth?

Well, these are all the feelings that is currently running on my head. Yes, I am being terminated from this world tomorrow. If Saddam's execution disturbed you, in spite of all the charges against him, hold your breath - I am being executed for no mistake of mine.

However, this is quite common in my world. There are many of my peers being awarded a death sentence and the execution is almost immediate - In a day's time.

What hurts the most, is how my executioner let the world know about my death sentence. He actually made me make an announcement to every single person. Since today is my last day alive, since morning, I have been telling each of my/his friends that I will not be alive tomorrow.

Now, all I have to do is wait patiently for death and then wait for resurrection (yeah, I strongly believe in re-birth).


Yeah, I am kind of prepared for this. I am only a slave and my master has decided to do away with me! I do not have a choice. Does a mobile number whose owner decides to change, have a choice?

Note: A tribute to my mobile no. which I changed recently.