Fascinated....

My dad has been the greatest educator in my life than my life itself.

In one of our discussions in my adolescent years, i blatantly blamed Gandhiji for the great divide to take place between India and Pakistan, how could he have allowed the division of countries, was he favoring the partition which was more or less based on religious values, if he had really wanted, he could have stopped, was my childish arguement.

He looked at me with those eyes that meant i was growing up and am entitled to my opinions. Yet, in few words he said "That wasnt true, it wasnt in his hands to decide, i cant allow you to think about a great man in ways that are not true". He suggested when i'm old enough, i'll UNDERSTAND the history. I took it that reading about it wasnt enough, i had to grow some more and i pondered was there more to it than what i know....The more i acquaint myself with his legacy, the more i'm fascinated by him, i feel there must be more to all this than what we read.

When i was in india last, my chacha, took a broom and started to clear the blockage of leaves in the narrow path of dry sewage next to our house that was clogging water. I quickly saw and went to rescue him and say "kyon chacha, app karr rahe ho, when the maids will come they'll do it". Yet, my chahcha said, "You know linku, bapuji said, if everyone does thier job without associating shame or embarrassment to it, the world would be a much better place to live".

There i was holding a sleepy baby Taran in my hands, next to my chacha, and he was blessing me with his deep sense of individuality.

All these feelings have been ruffled today as I came across this website, The Satyagraha House, the very house that housed Gandhiji and his architect friend Herman, his priniciples, his unrest, his simplicity and where the Satyagraha movement started its roots. Its recently been restored by a French company "Voyageurs du monde" and is now open to public. It gives a unique opportunity to stay in the guest house or just visit it as a museum. Kudos to the team of historian, curators, interior designers - who made this possible, who brought us little closer to the history of the life of a man we need to reacquaint ourselves with.

Thank you....merci beaucoup.

Me Judge not :)

Ek yaad kagaz ki khawab ki

Ek awaaz patton ki saans ki

Ek khat phulon ki raaz thi

Ek qwaish baki hai

.....ab milon ke raaste ki

Buss inn chaar batoin mein

Ek kashish guzara karta hai

Kabhi pyar se gale laga liya tho

Kabhi berukhi se anjanaa kar diya!

My poetic bone is unusually active oflate. When there is so much to say....

atteri kya baath hai....mein ithni romanchak hoon kya baath hai...

Great wolf lodge

Dec last year....something along this lines happened. 

I'm a sucker for short trips, long ones, vacations, skipping my reality is always a invitation to experience life more than what we are doing to it. 

Last week, drove little over 100 miles to reach Great Wolf Lodge. What can i say, the place was nothing short of magical.

Playing in water park at 84 degrees, you feel for a sec the disconnect between the outside temp and the one inside, margaritas, junk food, freshening up, heading to story time which was the highlight for me, T absolutely loved it....everyone in swim wear, flipflops, people of all ages were enjoying the splashes of water waves in the pool. 

When the native american puppet finishes telling a story about being brave in the forest, just then, there is a snow fall, the kids just ran to catch the snow and chase it. All the folks hair was covered in snow, and going to arcade, catching ice cream flavored after b'day cake. yumm yumm yumm....

The no fuss part is what i like the most, when u check in to this place they put a wrist band on you, which has your credit card details, so no matter where u go inside the hotel, u dont have to carry your wallet, just scan your wrist band and bang on, u r on a roll. If you are ever in the hood with your friends or family, this is a place that must be experienced. 

From around

http://www.ifoundyourcamera.net

1. Via my sunday ritual of PostSecret i came across this wonderful site which is a great resource to help people find thier lost cameras, pictures.....i think what they give back is more than just pictures, they give back treasures of lost moments. Something about that guys eyes is so captivating.

http://nyctaughtme.blogspot.com

2. If you are ever in the want to know "how to get kissed on top of empire state building". this is it ;)

3. This time of the year, Rittenhouse Square in Philadelphia looks beautiful.







4. This vid from Madewell is super awesome, you need go by gut instinct and answer in five seconds. When i finished, i was surprised how accurate it was.

5. Beautiful Wedding in a barn, perfect style. Check it out here.

6. How wonderful is this loft, i want to escape there for few days all by myself and just zone out.

7. To end the list with this song i've heard on radio first thing this morning, and i felt this thing take over me. Beautiful lyrics, "yaad teri kabhi dastak kabhi sarghoshi se"....love love love it....

The Dirt

Few weeks ago, at a friends place, i had the opportunity to watch "The Dirty Picture". The movie is loosely based on a south indian film actress, Silk Smitha. I'm not giving away the story, so there is no spoiler warning.

As we started to watch, S asked me how could she do what she did, however she eventually changed her opinion. But what i answered to her surprised myself, i was without any prejudice, she had her body as her skill to sell, she wasnt educated, she was being abused by her own family, she had very little to go by, so she did what she felt was right for her. I was given a "look" which i chose to ignore.

But really the dirt of this movie is not in her selling her oozing voluptuousness on the screen, nor is of the people who want to see it, it is of the people who exploited her, who viewed her solely as on object of sex. Yet portray exploitation as a platform. These are the same insecure men who'd do anything to keep their self inflated egos full by crushing other people or actresses naivety to their pleasures. She could be no saint, but the crime was hers not alone, and yet she crucified herself.

I personally loved the movie, but somewhere it failed me, i agree with few floating reviews out there, which say when the camera was on Vidya Balan, she captivated the screen, the other popular actors couldnt justify thier roles to the way she was, the dialogues were written so true to the character and the movie. They showed a feisty girl, who does unconventional things never heard of on screen. But the movie ran in thin waters for me when they didnt show a strong reason for her to take matters in her hands towards the end of the movie.

But the real kudos go to the actress who portrayed the character so grit fully true. By the end of the movie, i sorely wished Silk Smitha was alive to tell her story. Vidya Balan showed how beautiful a body can look and as she ages in the movie, the same body that she flaunts looks old and saggy and somehow not attractive as it was portrayed before. Her body language, her style of sitting, her way of clothing, how she taps her personal experiences to bring on screen performances were more than worthy a note. She was brilliant. Simply superbly brilliant.....You rock!

My Art

Everyday when i pack lunch for t, i try to make smiley faces or something that would remind him of me, the other day he gives me his "Ginger" and asked me to make it on the banana. What you think, was i close?

In check

“ People will forget what you said, 
people will forget what you did, 
but people will never forget how you made them feel.  



--- Maya Angelou 

I couldn't  agree more, Miss A.

In numbers

101 drafts of blog posts,
more than 101 thoughts
lost count of days of not blogging, i felt a pull almost everyday to write but i....
this is the worst and the best season i love to blog about....

I'll randomly start with the day i was writing T's b'day card late night on the kitchen table, your handwriting, your affectionate words and the cards you have given me over the years, which i have saved it like precious jewels, were spread out in my heart like a cool shadow under a tree on  hot day.

Instead of saying this and that, i kept it simple and wrote the card like you do, with love, with my affection and the words best describe it. Everyone says time heals the worst of wounds, it's been 3 years, and i'm not a day away from that fateful day.

This morning, i read on bbc that Dev anand is no more, and i cried in silence on hearing you calling me from living room while watching "chitrahaar", "Linku, dev anand ka gana aa raha hai, jaldi aao" i cant fathom why i use to love dev anand....Madhu gave me the "guide" dvd few years ago and i for some reason understood the complexity of thier emotions much better than the first time i saw it.

I love you abba jaan, my darling baba! 

B. Face

Does this ever happen to you, my dolls! Happened quite a few times with me. 

I cant remember the source of this picture, drop a note if anyone else does.

Sometimes how we feel inside is not how we look outside and the balance is so lost in translation that it's futile to explain to ourselves, let alone the strangers who think we are curdling their background of a lovely day. Get over it, and remember if you see us girls like that, just remember, this is just how my face looks too, on a good day. 

Judge yourself

“ You can easily judge the character of a man by how he treats those who can do nothing for him. J. Miles


Next time, when you are in a situation like that, think of which way you leaned. 


I'm a big fan of quotes, thanks to my dad. He use to love quotes, we use to have books and books just on quotes. When my childhood classmate best friend Madhavi was leaving town, i was wondering what to give her and on my dad's suggestion, i gave her a book of quotes. We are still friends and in touch. So my affinity to quotes leads me to post some of my fave ones here, do you have any fave quotes to share.

My backyard

Just after Hurricane Irene visited us, one quite evening i had the pleasure to see this wonderful art of god in my backyard last week of August!

Reminds me of Gone with the Wind cover picture of Rhett butler holding  Scarlett  O'Hara.

Aien..wyein

Iss tarah aapko yaad kiya karthein hain

Ke ghairon ko aapke naam se pukara karthin hain....

Sent from my iPhone


On a sleepless early morning, at 4.30am, in my cloud of thoughts, i composed this....
with the fear that i'll forget by the time i'll actually get up, i emailed myself these lines.
Sometimes i surprise myself for the extents i go to not forget something, stupid me!
I want to build on this...hopefully something else will come to me on another sleepless morning. Until then my lovelies kick off your morning with this oldie song, that guys groovy dance moves is quite adorable!

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??