A family visit

Seenu and his wife Geetha, from Delhi, with their son Anand, dropped in at our place in Mysore on Sunday afternoon. They were on their way back to Bangalore (where Anand works) from a brief holliday in Ooty.
It was Anand's treat to his parents. And his choice of Ooty was made with his mother in mind. Geetha was thrilled to visit Ooty, where she schooled. The three--day visit gave her a rare opportunity to re-visit the locality where she spent her childhood and reconnect with some of her old friends.
Seenu, known in his business circle as T Srinivasan, runs a tech company in New Delhi, and has a Nilgiri connection, of which he was only vaguely aware till his recent trip. Seenu's grand-father (Neelakanta Iyer?) had been a resident of Aruvankadu; and has built a temple there. Seenu made a pilgrimage to his ancestral place of worship and was pleasantly surpised to learn that the current temple pujari belonged the family that had served the temple since his grand-father's days.

Anand showed us images of the temple he got in his digital camera. Hopefully, he would post in this blog photos of the temple, and also better and clearer snapshots of his parents.

Santa comes home

Sidharth asked friends over to his place in San Ramon last Saturday for pizza with Santa.



Santa Claus however didn't join the kids at the table. Presumably, because the dining chairs they hired for the occasion were not designed for the bulky old man in red, with a flowing white beard. Besides, Santas don't eat pizza.
Sidharth's Santa took his work seriously; and played the part by the rule book. The first thing Santa Claus did was designate Sidharth's mother Meera as his official aide, by crowning her with the topa carrying his seal of authority.
The girl in the middle is Sidharth's cousin Anusha. The children were thrilled to have themselves photographed with the Christmas thatha.

Santa sat every child on his lap, and answered all their questions. He spoke to kids their language, about their interests. Santa spoke to Dhruv about trains. He talked cars with Sidharth. So obsessed is he with cars that if he were to meet the Lord himself, Sidharth would probably ask Jesus Christ, 'what car do you have ?'
Sidharth asked Santa why he had came in a car, instead of a sledge. He had learned from his mother that Santas travelled in sledges drawn by a team of reindeer. San Ramon Santa told Sidharth that he had indeed set out from his place in a sledge, but it broke down on way. Which was why he had to use a car to come to Sidharth's place.
The cake Sidharth's parents ordered for the occasion carried the image of Lightning McQueen.
If you observe Sidharth's plate , you would notice the image of the race car obscured by the slice of pizza.
While Sidharth chattted away with friends and other guests his kid brother Nikhil wouldn't take his eyes off Santa. As his dad Ravi put it, to say that Santa was a hit with the children would be an understatement. Santa Claus, on his part, did his homework well. A copule of days before the event Santa e-mailed Ravi, asking him for a list of the invited children, and also a one-line note on their individual likes and interests. Meera, in turn, e-mailed or phoned other moms about special craze of their kids; and relayed the info to Santa. When he showed up at Sidharth's place Santa was well prepared for the kids. Amar, Hunter, Anusha and other friends of Sidharth were surprised, and mighty pleased, to have Santa talking to each of them what they wanted to hear.
Poor Elmo finds himself pushed to a corner of Sidharth's play-room, 'timed out' as it were.

Time to feed ducks at the Blackhawk mall. And Nikhil takes the lead here, says his father.

Chamundi Children's day out

They don't get to go out every day - these young ones from Chamundi Children's Home, an orphanage in Mysore. They are seen here at a Lions Club function - a regional conference devoted to the theme - Share to Care. Guest speakers - Swami Nityasthananda of Ramakrishna Mission, and vetern journalist Krishna Vattam - spoke of a sense of self-fulfillent you get by giving with grace.

Speaking of giving Mr Vattam referred to the story of Sunitha, daughter of a pavement flower-seller who has become software engineer, with the support an anonymous well-wisher. Apparently, this well-wisher wasn't anonymous for Mr Vattam, judging from his familiarity with details of the Sunitha story and the 'feel' with which he recounted it. Sumitha, a bright student with aspirations for higher studies, got admission in a reputed engineering insititute, but didn't have the money for tuition. She was refused educational loan because the bank manager wasn't convinced about her completing the engineering course. The bank manager told her well-wisher who took Sunitha to the bank that the likes of her usuallly got married and gave up studies mid-way.
Sunitha, honoured at the Lions Club function, is now an engineer with Wipro, and still single, an eligible one.. She could come this far because her well-wisher didn't give up on her. Though not flushed with funds, Sunitha's well-wisher mobilised his savings to get her admitted in the college. What's more, he took care of her tuition and other fees till she finished her course. Sunitha completed her studies with distinction and had no problem getting a placement with Wipro. Her well-wisher feels his Rs.60,000 was well spent, and Sunitha is a living testimony to an act of giving.
The row of ladies in the foreground is my family, and my mother and wife are flanked by her sister Gita (far left) and niece Kavitha (right). In a sense, the Lions Club meet was our family affair. For we had family presence in the podium as well. I would say that the entire meet was planned, organised, and conducted by T V Raghotham Rao; and his wife Gowri, my wife's sister, contributed no less by going without much sleep for weeks, waiting for her husband to come home after daily preparatory sesssions that stretched late into the nights.
Gowri, whose supportive role may or may not find a mention in the Lions Club annual report, deserved her place on the dais.
Kavitha,one of Gowri's twins, is seen recording the moment for the family album.

Phoenix Auysh Homa

It was their day. The Jagannaths of Phoenix celebrated their younger grandson Nikhil's first birthday last Sunday, Dec.14. For the record, Nikhil completed one year on Nov.16, if we go by the Christian calender. But the birth date, in accordance with Hindu calculations fell in mid-Dec. Which was how the Jagannaths came to organise Nikhil's Ayush Homa when they did.
Ganesha and Ayusha Homa was held at Ekta Mandir, a specious temple complex in Phoenix. Incidentally, Mr Jagannath who has spent four decades in the town was among the NRI core group that conceived of, planned and executed the Ekta Mandir complex, which, apart from a spacious worship area, has an auditorium that is used by local NRIs for organising spiritual discourses, celebrating marriages , mundan ceremony, upanayanam and other socio-religious events.
The kids are on their own trip as their parents do puja.
Nikhil dressed up for the homa
Elder brother Sidharth in a dress tailored for the occasion and fedexed from Bangalore by elder ajji Vaidehi and thatha Srinivas.

Phoenix family at full strength - nearly, for Lakshmi, Meera's sister and Sidharth's favourite sitti is missing from the frame.
The massive hall at Ekta Mandir is evidently designed for much bigger 'do's' than Nikhil's ayushoma . The rituals at the temple was followed by lunch at Indo-American Center, where there were over 170 guests, of whom 35 were children, according to Mr Jagannath.
Nikhil holding the floor.
The Jagannaths skipped the gift-giving part of the rituals - aseervadham. Their e-vite says the very presence/blessings of the invitee is a gift in itself. However, those who feel obliged to give anyway, could do so to Maggie's Place , a charity for hospitality to expectant mothers in need.

No garland for Nikhil;he prefers balloons.Phoenix thatha ordered scores of them;and a handful are still left to be exploded.

Sidharth is 3

Our grandson Sidharth is three (on Dec.16). The picture (above) was taken in July. Would share with you here his latest when we get from Meera and Ravi photos of a puja they held in Phoenix Sunday last, in celebration of Nikhil's first birthday. Phoenix is where his grandparents - Jagannaths - live. And they did it by the book - puja, homa and a feast . Nikhil turned one on November 16.

Advantage with having two sets of grandparents - one in Phoenix and the other, Mysore - is that you get to have your birthdays celebrated at three different places. Sidharth cut a birthday cake while at his grandpas place at Phoenix on Sunday. Coming Sunday, his parents have lined up a birthday meet at San Ramon, to which a neighbourhood Santa Claus is a special invitee.

At Mysore, Sidharth's grandma did the usual temple rounds, and even took in the dargha close to our place. Incidentally, this was the first place of worship we happened to visit soon after we learnt of Sidharth's birth at a California hospital three year back.Sidhath at birth, Dec.2005.

We spent last evening at Chamundi Children's Home. Raghu, a locally influential friend, relation and Sidharth's chota grandpa, had made arrangements for serving evening meals to the 17 children at the orphanage. On our way back we dropped in at Diya's place at Gokulam. Diya is Raghu's grand-daughter and Sidharth's favourite in Mysore.

Earlier, at the orphanage children greeted us with folded hands and a knowing smile, as if we were old friends. They conveyed their birthday greetings with a message on the blackboard. Notice the bouquet they have drawn on the blackboard. What was touching was the children singing 'happy birthday' in unrehearsed chorus.


Saraswathi, a senior, guides younger children with their maths while doing her own home-work. All children go to Brindhavan school in their neighbourhood.
It was an interaction with Saraswathi about her schooling that prompted Sidharth's grandma to decide on visiting Chamundi Children's Home on a regular basis, say twice weekly, to help the children with their Hindi lessons.

A day out at Oxford

Ever from my childhood, I have heard about names like Harvard, Oxford etc., about how prestigious it will be to study in a place like them.

Well I never was able to get a seat in Oxford, but finally got a chance to visit the place.

Unlike what I thought. Oxford is a huge town, which has many universities within it. This photo is taken in front of the Oxford Library (or was it a museum!!!). gave me a great feeling to just see the place.

Within Oxford town, I went to a place wherein photos were placed of places of the world taken from the top. Did manage to get one from Jaipur, Rajasthan. This is a photo of the Rajasthani bedsheets that are being spread under the sun for the colour of the dye to get set.

This shows a World Map.

People bring their kids here and teach them Geography. Nice to see various countries and, even set a foot on any of them, without having to get Visa.

Even though i had a chance to take snap with any country of my choice, I could not take it anywhere else but India.

Could not resist a snap with Sir Isaac Newton.........
Though, in my childhood days, I used to hate him for making me study all sorts of things !!!!
On the lawns of the St. Michael Church in Oxford.
Its a mighty huge place, within which two markets like Chandni Chowk can accomodate.Here people use it for walking and recreation purpose.

Krithikai in Mysore

It is about lighting lamps, making avul, which isn't my favourite dish. Appam is more up my street. Anyway, my wife and mother wouldn't let my lack of taste for it to stand in the way of preparing avul, because rituals stipulate that there can be no Krithikai without avul.

Mother, enthusiastic about going by the rule book, parked herself in our kitchen to monitor the proceedings. She takes an active interest in observing rituals on any festive occasion.
You can spot the special dishes in the foreground set up as offerings to the deity.
Earthern lamps being lit for placing them around the house.

Lamps placed in front of potted tulsi on the balcony of mother's bed-room.

Carrying a trayful to be placed outside the front-door.
Placing the lamps at the door-step of our third-floor apartment.