Tale of a road trip

West Chester -> Washington, DC -> Cary, NC and in reverse.

Mom, taran, I, a rented car and the mapquest App on my phone as roadies for 4 days.

After starting late on Friday, reached Union station, DC in peace by 1.30ish. After a sumptuous lunch of pizza's, Taran chased some birds at the freedom bell, as mom clicked away pics. At 3pm took the duck tour around town, i had such a blast with mom and taran.

412 miles, over 7 hrs :)

After early supper in Union station at 6.15ish we started the trip to NC driving for 40 miles an hour for quite sometime, made a quick pit stop for gas, its interesting how rest areas in south don't have gas stations and food courts like in NE. They have separate exits for that. Between my car and the SUV we were overtaking each other at 85 mph on 85S. Somewhere inbetween, T woke up and said, "mamma, you should let somebody else win, you cant win all the time".

After getting lost as we got closer to my destination, we reached Dinnu's home at 11.45ish pm, she opened doors with whiffs of warm food on the dining table. It's adorable how family and friends always wait for you no matter how late it is, to eat with you :) Squished between a 3 and a half and a 5 and a half, i alertly slept next to sleeping kids, it reminded me last thanksgiving in nj, between T and D.

A good bit of saturday was spent swapping stories, listening to kids, thinking about our other cousins and aunts and enjoying every bit of my niece calling me "Linku khalajaan", we headed to Lake Crab tree just before closing time at sunset, evening stroll in the mall, shopped for kids and went back home to some more reminiscing. I assumed the role of my munni khala when we were kids, and fed these little cousins, telling them tall stories of spider man, the moon and about recycling !!

Sunday was spent Museum hopping from NC Museum of Art to  Museum of Life+Science. Since the kids were being such handful at museum of art and we were being subjected to heavy eye rolling by the guards inside the museum, i decided to let them play at the fountain.

By 10am on Monday, we bid adieus with hugs, tears and wails from the kiddos, packed lunches, we headed on our way back. We took such frequent long breaks for lunch at McD's, coffee breaks, T had his first Starbucks, drove in rain and reached home by 5.30ish.

I had such adorable pleasant time with my darlings, all i want now is something like this pic below to fall asleep while reading.....instead i did 3 loads of laundry, vacuum cleaned the home, fixed my camera.

Ammi and Taran are getting closer by each day, i can tell, she is the bamboo when Taran is a panda, and Taran is a dog looking for a biscuit that my mom wants to eat : ) the plastic hangers are the shooting guns while they play hide nad seek and I change linens....lol! I thought of all my loved ones, and missed few a lot during my trip.

Courtesy Indian Summer. All i want is this now!

Quick pals

At Snip-its in Exton, T befriended someone much older than him, the wait time was ezy breezy! Apparently the well spoken language is the world of car racing games. I love it, how he approaches people, he has no inhibitions, he just flat out tells them how he feels about stuff they are doing, and the strangers always answer back in such sweet way that its endearing to watch this social dialogue in such dramatic tones.

In emergency

how do you prep?

I stepped up with prepping for irene hurricane as i was the only taking it serious, v was off to play his league cricket right in the middle of storm on Sat. On P's advice, packed some stuff, on ammi's advice, cooked extra meals, based on my common sense, charged phones, kept T's buzz lightyear flash light handy, extra water, removed the paintings of the wall close to the windows, my potted plants i brought them indoors, stacked the chairs and left them in the garage. If i had extra time, maybe i had filled up tank in my truck. With all the commotion, Taran thought i was baking a cake to celebrate, he even wondered if his birthday was here. ha ha ha....he made the most of us being busy and atched his fave movie and had lots of tv time.

With quite an interesting Sat, I slept like a baby with mom, as we weathered heavy rains, gusty winds and all, it got quite calmer around late noon Sunday. Just then Marcus & daisy texts to see if we could have the kids play together. ha ha....i almost cracked up laughing, but then i invited them home. It's very humbling when you open your doors and your life open to people, wonderful experiences, unknown stories, and good food happens. They brought this rich choclate cake, i made elaichi wali chai and next thing i know more kids from neighborhood were in my basement playing and plotting to explore t's bedroom upstairs to ramble it up : ) fortunately they all instead decided to head to the play area in front of my home.

Later as i was unpacking my suitcase - i made a mental note of how little "stuff" i really needed, apart from pair of clothes, i packed my dad's eye glasses, his books, my kindle and waterproofed passports. I thank god that nothing severe happened. But in retrospective, i had an aha zen moment, now everything else looks like stuff, if these are things i could survive without, then why do i even waste my energy and efforts keeping up with them. Food for thought....

My homies, how did you prep for this hurricane?? 

Have a happy.....day

Celebrate each moment the way you'd feel if there was a surprise at your window!

Courtesy: Joie de vivre

With hurricane Irene around the corner, and few earthquake tremors last week, there was quite some commotion around this part of the world. Natural calamities are all the more reason to count your blessings, rejoice the good people and things in our lives. 

Which way would you lean

hEART vs Head

Rocky aya ghar!

Guess who got towed from home! My bubba is troubling me so much these days, when i start it makes this sound you cant forget, it then feels like its coughing before it starts. Few days ago, one am, it refused to even cough, i called my fave mechanic home, he scraped his head while taking a lookie and decided we needed to get it towed to his garage. The only good thing that happened was my neighbor showed off, her young boys the whole towing process, and the kids got a kick as if they were at a fair!

Thankfully, it's only a fried battery, so i dont have to change my car, and i dont want to change, i have too many memories settled in this car. 

Tear the walls!

Do you ever imagine people walking with walls?

Courtesy: Joie de vivre

 I, do! Infact, there are times when i'm talking to someone i feel the walls, i sense them, i try to penetrate through them. These are the ones you cant touch, they are just there. But the million dollar question is who do you care enough to knock the walls down.

Kabbadi

in the living room with cars

T and i were getting ready to play kabbadi in the living room and we used his cars as a divider between his side and mine. 

Kabbadi kabbadi kabbadi! it's so much fun that i always win!

Haath jaltha hai tho jalne do!

When you have four burners going on the stove, it's better to clean the stove after the cooking is done, but ithni akal kahan, saaf karne ki bohuth bhooth jo sawaar tha. 

I'd rather get burnt and see the scars than see sticky and oil splutters around the stove. Even while it's cooking i have to constantly keep my surfaces clean, so an accident happened that's going to last few months before i forget it.

So, my dear bubba, please pay attention if you are ever at it. I'm sure you'll try to impress your girlfriend by cooking, but beware of these accidents....ok, doll.

Mo

A dear friend of dad's Mohan prasad uncle is no more, a severe loss for the literary world. A well known, highly acknowledged poet. I remember visiting uncles home on my way back from my drawing class in summer holidays when dad was stationed there. Uncle always in white, with cigarette in his hand and their open home next to a rocky mountain in vijayawada. He use to say "paininchi okka rai kuda padindante, mana kuteeram sangatulu inka anthay"..... he'd have a small garden in that patch where the possibility of any rock falling was eminent. I'd look up and wonder...

His daughter, mamta akka went on to win debates at national level and was sent to Germany. Sujata anuty is quite a simpleton. I'll always remember you fondly uncle, i promise to visit aunty the next time i'm there.

Few small and big moments

with T... 

When my neighbor and i were talking in the driveway, he sat so close to her little puppy, letting it lick him, on top of it, he moved around so that the dog could lick him on both his hands :) then he curiously asks me "Why do dogs have eyes, mamma?" with his casual shrug. i felt like squeezing him hard. 

Same day, over pink milk our conv went something like this...

I missed you today my bubba.

T: why mamma, was I lost? (t's face was so full of wonderful cute worry )

Why would you be lost, mera baccha?

T: When something is missing, it's lost mamma!

ha ha...Meri jaan, you are right!

Wouldn't be so cute to say "I lost you, today?". He speaks like such a wise person with transparent thoughts sometimes, it amazes me. 

Me hearties, hope you all "lose" someone close to your heart and yet far in distance. 

Lost time

Courtesy: Joie de Vivre

Is this why we seem to quite frequently say, time flies?? and yet when we meet people we haven't  met  in ages, it feels like  just yesterday that we spoke to them. This graffiti reminds me of Salvador Dali's Melting clock. 

Mind the Gap

....not like the one in the tube in London. But the gap in thoughts between epochs of life even though the settings are the same.

Since my mom's here, i notice few things that she says in conversation that make me ponder, make me think deep, makes me wonder, how as people we have changed so drastically over the decades. I imagine her in my shoes, how she'd have led her life, how she would have managed a situation that i find it so difficult to overcome.

I'll never forget when she got worried about my chronic cough that has returned with vengeance this year. While making fruit salad, she lovingly asked me does your cough trouble V?. I was like why would it, i've had it for over 10 years now, if anything everyone got used to it, even my friends and T got used to it. She innocently replies,  "aadat kaise hoga beta, phir aapki takleef?"

Hmm....interesting, takleef! hmm....i had quietly accepted the pain and didn't pay attention to it....how could i have expected empathy for my implicit pain when i myself didnt heed to it. I dont mean to reproach V or anyone, it's just how life is, how we get lost in the mechanics of it. I didnt explain her all this, i just got lost in my thoughts.

As people of this age, we need answers, we need them now, we need things to be in order, our minds are adapted to see things only in a way that condition well. We go to docs, we expect them to resolve our probs asap, our visit to them is a way of our taking care of the issue. But now i wonder, is that enough, is one act of resolute act suffice. Is TLC as needed as it claims? Are kind words more balm-ing/ healing than a docs prescription???? I cease to think i'd need it.

We deal with those pressures or circumstances, but the art of dealing with it in a breathable way that allows for a good exchange of emotions is largely absent. I wonder, how would T process his thoughts, his emotions, how would he deal with pressure cooker moments of times. Most importantly, how can i teach him to take care of his precious thoughts, how to let him preserve the sanctity of his well being and of those he treasures.

Before and After

I was reading an article somewhere that prompted me to write this. It kinda struck a chord and i thought i'll list the things that i did differently, BT and AT!


== I pick clothes that need minimum to no ironing, as a result learnt to expertly layer clothes.


== Makeup-  I never did much but BT whatever little I use to do it @ home, but now i've realized i do it a better job, at the traffic light stop, or yield signs. At one stop i start with eye liner and mascara, while driving i put my powder on, while still driving my lipstick and gloss is in order by the time i reach my destination i have perfume handy.


== My high heel / Silhouette shoes: BT i use to wear them all the time, but now, not for long, i crave for that flat comfort zone. So, i have learnt to leave my extra pair on the passenger seat next to me while i drive with flats. While i'm spraying myself with the perfume, i reach over to scout for my high heeled shoes, wear them. 


== Dressing for Parties: Fursat mein i use to try on few clothes, try on N no of shoes, make heaps of tried on clothes on bed, but now, i briefly scan the closet, see what would work out, and wear which ever shoes work with them.


== Earrings: I use to let my lazy behaviour take over and leave my earrings on all night, but now IF i even get to wear any, i religiously remove them at night.


== Clean house: It may look clean to you, but i cant fool myself can i? I pick all toys and stuff that i cnat find home for and either leave them in my closet or in the garage. Quick mop, plenty lysol wipes, febreeze and bingo, clean and fresh smelling home. 


== Gift Shopping: ha ha...pehle tho, i'd atleast maek an attempt to go the store buy gifts, wrap them, write a card etc. But now, AT, we stop at Wawa, buy the gift card there. If i really have to get a gift, i do it on my way to the party, wrap it in the car. As a backup, i carry scotchtape in the car :)

== My weekday hair wash party has moved to thursday am's and on this day my hair decides how it wants to be, and i've learnt to take it in stride. 

What and how have u changed ??

Raise your hand

if you like this one....

Dont need another perfect line...


.....till all my sleeves are stained red.

The first few seconds the high they take you to and the tempo they stage in download worthy....will give all my secrets away....