Welcome mat has been laid

… for my cousin G who visits us after living in the same country as me (even the same coast *gasp*) for almost 8 yrs. The last time we met her was when she visited us to attend Raul’s first birthday. After years of invitations that turned more into nagging, R & G finally decided to make the plunge.

Grandma, an avid food lover is eagerly awaiting the arrival of her niece. As I step into the house from work, the wonderful aroma of cauliflower manchurian (any remnants left after Raul has pounced on them akin to a kid who has been starved for days together), stuffed egg plant (in honor of R) and drumstick poricha kozhambu (in honor of G) assails me and I think of ways and means to stay away from the food till the guest of honor arrives much later.

Looking forward to spending time with G and her tell us details of our childhood as vividly as it transpired just a few moments ago. G has an absolutely unbelievable memory (long term) that she can effortlessly describe everything from our expressions to the attire we had during an event that occurred just about 20 yrs past. Always a pleasure to hang around this kid and giggle away for no special reason.

R, of course is my soulmate. As they say, it doesn’t take much to get comfortable with a few people. R is one who I can tease and talk to endlessly given that we have spent very little time together. Most of us relationship has been long distance but the comfort with share with each other is something special indeed. If a guy can still love someone who called him bright eyed and bushy tailed at 6 am the morning after his “suhaag raat”, I doubt much else will cause him to hate me. Oh, the things we have done to these guys don’t stop there, but it’s time to stop ‘coz I really don’t want my confessions here to be the straw that breaks the camels back

The kids are excited to spend time with them and I am sure they are prepared to get toasted in the 100+ degree heat that awaits them as they land.

Canine Challenges

Grandma & Grandpa are spending summer at our place not just to watch the two human grandkids but to babysit Zoey, our 3 year old lab as well. Grandma who is petrified of dogs is now completely smitten by all the attention Zoey gives her. She absolutely dotes on Zoey and turned a 180 degrees when she asked me if she should get a dog when she is back in India. Given that she had never allowed us to have a puppy at home growing up, I could tell Zoey had wormed her way into grandma’s heart. Zoey for her part follows grandma to every corner of the house and tries her best to not let grandma out of her sight.

Zoey has been scratching herself a little excessively and the vet diagnosed her problem as a skin infection & has put her on allergy medication and a good dose of antibiotics. If you are wondering where the problem is with this whole situation, it is that Zoey does not like to take her medicines. Getting her to ingest those medications is harder than any struggle I have had to endure to get either of my kids to take their medication when needed. Zoey will try every single trick up her sleeve to avoid taking the medicines.

Every evening as I walk into the house with, I am welcomed by grandma with lengthy rants on how the kids don’t listen to her and will only listen to us (meaning the OH & yours truly.) Now the complain extends to Zoey as well. Zoey will not put up any resistance when the OH is around to give her the medication. But if the one giving her the medicine is someone else, then the chance of Zoey taking her medication is slim to none.

Grandma, of course does not accept defeat with grace. She has tried to bury the pills in the middle of Zoey’s daily food. Zoey like a seasoned veteran digs the pill out of her food, places it on the side and polishes of her food. Grandma then tried to stick it deep in Zoey’s throat but that failed too ‘coz even before grandma’s head turned the other direction, the pill was back on the floor. Mixing it with water didn’t help either. Yesterday grandma came up with a brilliant plan. She rolled the pill in a slice of bread (Zoey loves bread) and got her swallow the pill.

Zoey obviously knows what she is guilty of and gives grandma a sad puppy face look when she is yelled at. She refuses to look grandma in the eye and follows her like a loyal mate till grandma relents and is not mad at her anymore. Grandma, in the meanwhile continues to brainstorm better ways of getting the four legged grandkid to easily gulp down her medication. Am sure she will breathe a huge sigh of relief when the prescribed dose of medicines is over and done with.

Double standards

As I was typing away in a frenzy at work, trying to get a project schedule completed and published, I hear the sound of my cell phone. I pick it up to the excited voice of Raul on the other end. Here is how the conversation goes…

Raul: “Amma, there is this fly and it was irritating the heck out of Zoey (our 3 yr old Lab)”

Sand: “Raul, did you open the door to let the fly out? I will call pest control to come in and spray our patio tomorrow.”

Raul: “No Amma, since this fly was bugging the heck of out Zoey by making this buzzing noise around her face Zoey just opened her mouth and ate it.”

Sand (now thinking of when Raul irritates Zoey when she is enjoying a new bone that has been given to her) tells Raul: “See what Zoey does when something/someone irritates her? She just eats them up.”

Raul (pat comes the reply): “Amma, can you come home in the evening and yell at Zoey and ask her not to eat flies?”

And this coming from a kid who has no qualms about eating any piece of meat that is placed in front of him is rich and nothing short of double standards, don’t you think?

Happy B’day Appa

What more can I say about the him that I haven’t already written about here and here? A few things that makes him special in no particular order…

• One who loves to not eat and skip a meal given the tiniest opportunity. In all my life I have never ever seen him crave for food.

• One to whom cricket and sports in general is not just a hobby, but a passion and often more important that life itself.

• One who is most content with what he has and is always noble enough to compare his wealth against the those below him than lusting for what the rich have.

• One who loves his kids and grandkids to fault and will gladly rattle non stop to anyone who is willing to give him the time of their day.

• One who will not get his hearing tested lest he be asked to wear one of those ghastly hearing aids. Nothing we do or say will change his mind.

• One who won’t carry an identification card on self lest something unexpected happens as in the case of his dear friend.

• One who cares a little too much for other people’s feelings that the only time he will speak his mind is in his sleep when the whole world sleeps.

• One who can do his math way better in his sleep than any of us can do wide awake.

• One who loves his mom in spite of not having spent a day with her since his birth (he was separated from her at birth since she was suffering from tuberculosis)

• One who loves to spend hours in front of the slot machines for the fun of gaming.

• One who has been nervous ever since he reached the milestone of 68 yrs, since that was the age he lost most of his family members.

• One who loved collecting all kinds of pens during his working career and wished to take them with him to his grave.

Happy birthday Appa!! You are simply the best. We look forward to you narrating stories of your great grand children to anyone who is willing to lend a ear.

And for all those naysayers

… who think having a glass of wine is not such a great idea, please take a few minutes to read this. I always knew there had to be a good reason and now we do Now if only this were sufficient to convince the ones I speak of here, that would be the day.

Mugen Puchi-Puchi

Have you obsessed over and fought for a sheet of bubble wrap that you can pop?

Popping the bubble wrap is a fun activity and I remember many a days when I have feverishly popped the bubbles till there were none left on the sheet that ended up in my hands from some parcel that arrived in the mail or an errant piece that got cut off from the roll as we completed packing fragile things that needed to be mailed.

I have also watched Meg & Raul fight over a tiny piece of bubble wrap just so they could enjoy the pleasure of popping the bubbles. Now there is something for those who enjoy this mind numbing activity. If you are still wondering what the header to this entry means, click on this piece of news and you will find your answer. I can see more than just kids getting addicted to this new gadget. A simple Google search revealed some additional fun details on this tiny gadget that was launched late 2007. Anyone interested can go here and here to know more about this cool toy.

Why is it impossible to lose weight – Part II

… given the people that currently reside in the household. My mom is spending the summer with us and here are a few reasons it is hard to say “no”

• Mom does not believe in portion control

• Mom is a strong believer of eating well (meaning lots) and then work it all out

• Mom has a passion for cooking and believes that people in general are too shy to take additional servings (this includes folks who live in the house)

• Only a passing mention needs to be made before the requested item is placed in front of self for consumption the very same day

• Mom loves to spend her spare time cooking up killer desserts and enticing you when you return from work famished and ready to eat anything displayed on the table/counter.

• Delicacies not normally cooked in the residence are now proud occupants of the refrigerator space awaiting to be devoured.

• Mom’s raison d’etre is ensuring that her babies are well fed.

• Storage of the final few spoons of leftovers is scoffed upon and the better option is to empty said contents into the plates of the folks working on finishing up their meal.

Now if only ingesting such yummy delicacies didn’t end up depositing the fat calories to certain parts of the body rendering them hideous to sight of self and everyone around. What I would be willing to sacrifice to trade with people I know who can eat away and still maintain a killer body.

** Edited to add: Came across this blogger who gives an amazingly accurate depiction of a typical lunch/dinner at a South Indian household. I can so relate to how he feels. Only in my case, it isn’t the son-in-law

A piece of news that caught my attention

As I came across this in The Hindu, I wondered for a moment why life was so insignificant for some, that they would deprive themselves the joy of living for reasons as trivial as mentioned in the article. I try to rationalize that just maybe there are details not revealed in this write-up that caused the women to take such drastic measures.

Much as I try to give the women the benefit of doubt, I truly can’t relate why one would go to such lengths to shorten the wonderful life that God has given each of us. Happiness, sadness, miseries and disappointments are all part of what we experience as human beings and the very things that make our life exciting, challenging and truly worth living. When God created us to be enjoy the pleasures of living, why I wonder did he make some people weak? Having said that, I also know that it takes tremendous courage to take your own life and these very same people who don’t have it within themselves to face the challenges that are thrown their way, have the inner strength to claim their own lives.

Did God intend it to be this way, I wonder…

Some things are never fun

… like paying bills. Back in the days of yore when I was a newlywed in this country, the OH tasked me with the job of paying the bills. This back then involved sorting through mail and twice each month writing checks to various services, stashing them into their envelopes, stamping them and dropping them in the mailbox.

With the advent of online banking this task got significantly easier and takes just a few minutes of my time but the effort itself continues to be painful as ever. Maybe it is the agony of watching the funds dissipate from the account or the diligence of having to remember the dates when these payments are due or realizing (not so much thankfully now as during the student days) that paying these bills meant, there was this insignificant amount left for other essentials needed to run a household. It could be any one or a combination of all the above reasons but the task continues to be no fun.

As I sit down to do this task each month, I remind myself of the one thing I tell Meg every time she whines to do her own laundry. Not all tasks are fun to do but regardless need to be done. I guess some lessons are easier dished out than practiced by self.

Why is it impossible to lose weight

… given where I work

• Someone celebrates their birthday and cake is ordered for the occasion

• Someone completes 5, 10, 15 (you get the drift) years with the company and we celebrate with cake

• Someone returns from vacation to their home country and we welcome them with what else, cake

• Someone’s wife is an excellent cook and decides to cook up some killer desserts for the entire team

• Someone is selling girl scout cookies and is kind enough to donate a couple of boxes to the group

• Manager orders a whole bunch of cookies to get his team wired & awake after lunch

• All team meetings are scheduled for lunchtime & food is a key part of the planning exercise

• There is always a stash of junk food/snacks tucked away in the clubhouse for the group to nibble on when bored/tired/hungry

Should I just be glad I am not overweight. Saying “no” is an option but I am still working on saying it