Newyork

Newyork is so built with bridges

when I saw snowfall for the first time

 

from my apartment window at 11 th floor

the statue of liberty

Unlike other places in the united states of America ,Newyork  is not about touring its about living there.enjoying the busy life . the fast paced lifestyle makes anyone busy. I was so withheld at home that I had no choice but to come outside and explore this beautiful busy life.I lived in one of the skyscrapers ,with a library across the road and a main street parallel to mine.I was on my own as I had to pick up the kid from  school for like walking 2 miles , funny I had a neighbour who comes by car to our building  I reach home earlier than her, thanks to the traffic and snow clad roads.

I witnessed the historical deposits from snow from my apartment window midnight .Snow is like rain , nobody gets scared or irritated , they just move on.Its one of the elements here.They say couldn't care less.unfortunately to me I had the worst of the nightmares coming together when I think of those snow days all alone in a new place couldnot process the fact that I will be walking in the streets of this new place,bracing myself was tough for me and I was weak but not anymore , I took cabs which I had access just as I left from apartment's building.A railway station next street.My apartment had all the facilities of the world in one place only thing I was scared to step outside . because of the sedantary lifestyle that follows a desperate dependant one you land here in the US.You are immobile if you cannot drive a car .You cannot goto office because you are on H4.All you do is take pictures of whatever comes your way which a 4 year old can do.Everything is at the mercy of the Visa status. You visit Niagara and Disneyland , who needs them I so wanna get back to work ! You visit the statue of liberty only to discover that you are not at liberty to go to work because of some stupid visa status. Like hell , I am waiting for my turn to goto an office.

Now why is this thought coming up for the Newyork post is the question. The answer is which it was much relaxing in the other parts of the US I visited, its depressingly busy in Newyork that staying at home only counts as a sin.

Summer hobbies

If there is one activity that never fails to fascinate anyone in the home it is painting the walls. My hubby felt like a kid and so did I .Surprisingly the kid in all his cuteness felt like a resposible gentleman . We have had a few bad experience with the touch up paints before .Either the colour wouldnot match or the brush failed to complement the beauty. But this time it felt wonderful to paint the walls with the foam brush and a paint of good brand that blended so well with the wall.First I was hesitant to let my little boy do the painting and stuff only to realise later how wrong I was about him.
That said the paint was getting dried up and so we had to finish the work fast. Before the toddler woke up to find his abstract art vanish from the walls we were done.

It is an amazing feel to have done something fruitful and most importantly without the help of the computer that makes me drain two third of my life into void.Thanks to networking that is inversely proportional to the net work done.

One important thing that awaits all moms during the summer vacation is the cleaning up of the piles of schoolwork that comes home from the previous here.Only adds to confusion if we need to keep it for some old belief of this might come to use for any project work that awaits in the future.who am I kidding this was the story of my school days where computers were dreams far fetched .So finally gathered the courage to get rid of one whole bag of trash from the school work .

It never fails to amaze me when I think about that one thing about cleaning up.I either sit there for days waiting for the sky to fall or the earth to shake before I even decide to clean up that old store in the kitchen or the closet . But once I set my mind on it , I find myself indulge in it so much that I am never done with it and its a ever running process eventually  I giveup at some point and back to square one.Its the circle of life , atleast mine.

But from now on I have decided that there are things in life that cannot wait .one such thing is the task of cleaning because life doesnot wait for anyone to perfect themselves.There has to be a routine ,a consistency in such vital needs .And I am not waiting for the toddler to pick up his own toys put it in the box.I won't mind clearing the carpet any number of times until the terrible two's child decides to give up on tumbling the toy boxes all over the floor .I won't mind doing the dishes for any number of times for the sake of the this unmatched satisfaction of having done something away from the computer. Funny I am putting this up in the summer hobbies post !

Super woman to the rescue!

We set off for a long drive on a weekend, in a Chevy that we had rented for the weekend. Before it is late we realised that we have not checked the gas station and the needle was already reaching for empty. Luckily , we saw a gas station nearby and went there. Being not so used to Chevy, we had a hard time trying to locate the lock release for the gas tank.The gas station was deserted and it was already getting darker.
After quite a while,we saw a gang of chics parking their chevy in a nearby aisle.We had no choice but to ask them for help. Two of them came to help us checking again the every control that we had hoped will work, in the past 10 minutes .
In vain,they exclaimed, "Its unbelievable !"
It was a brand new vehicle, hardly wud have run 1500 miles. They said , " they release a new model every now, we r sorry , we gotta leave!"
Just then , an old lady parked a Toyota behind us. She was waiting for her turn and watching the four of us in despair , sensed that her turn was never gonna come. She got off the car and headed straight to the gas tank of our Chevy and in a snap , slid opened the gas tank , much to our awe.
She didnt speak a word , neither was she waiting for a 'Thank you' from us. Much relieved , we waved thanks to her and soon cleared from there. I m not sure , if the model was new , Hats off to the lady , anyway.

Oh ! Snow !!

First look

Intimidating ,

then Enchanting
 and now refreshing :))

The Kissing Hand

By now,I almost lost count of "first day at school" for my kid .As bizarre as it appears to be , the strong laid foundation is for just the kindergarten.. thanks to the transfers !!
This time ,the first day at school was phenomenal. The teacher was reading the "The Kissing hand " book with the read along CD running in the back drop. This is a wonderful book..it talks about Chester ,a raccoon who is scared about going to school.
His mom raccoon places a kiss in his palm.that becomes 'the kissing hand '.So he can place the kissing hand on his cheek when he feels lonely or to brace oneself for the exciting new experiences as life unfolds .When u get a cold feet or butterflies in the stomach next time, u remember to think of the loved ones. There comes a time in every one's life where one is independent yet cant leave behind everything that has backed one since birth.This book beautifully brings out those emotions locked up in us parents too .


That said about the book and all , the teacher gave away a cookie in the shape of a hand and placed Hershey's kisses chocolate one in each cookie for every pod .I was the one holding the ready to melt kisses drop on the cookie .So I unpacked it for the kiddo ..No sooner I did that than the little one sprang upon Daddy for sharing the special cookie prepared to mark the reassuring love of a MOM,Mummy, Mother , Mommy , Amma ![ Sigh] !!!

My kid placed his palm on his cheek, rather rested the crown on the palm in bewilderment even before the story-teller mentioned about anybody's palm.The first day was equally boring as the rest of the year it seems.

So started my journey of educating my child how I missed to be attentive just like my sweetie in my school years .Well , what can I say ? A memorable fifth first day at school !!

P.S:
I 'm absolutely busy with homework I intentionally /unintentionally warded off in my school years so what ? I get to enjoy the toys, crayons, cartoons and story books , alright ?

with the photographer

It was father's day. This is one damn good idea to nag men :p and the best part is They dont even realise it. so we set off .. where to? anywhere , u have no idea how my guy was excited about this day .. we went to well ... ahem, its the regular supermarkets nothing to boast of .. nevertheless.. people never seem to be tired of exchanging wishes on father's day.Boy, this is one day when men could smile , mile wide and eagerly await to wish some guy. I wonder if all this is for the love of parenting or merely its the celebration of the lords and 'ladies not allowed 'rule that makes it a happy occasion for the guys.

Watever, it's memorable. but the preparation for this day needs a special mention ,too. I booked appointments with the photostudio for a potrait session well ahead of father's day. Our idea was to take two potraits.. but this sweet photographer took about 7 stills like nobody's business..

she took a few stills before even we were ready.. she said its great to capture moments than a pose and yes no prize for guessing , we fell for it. ' do u wanna do the kids alone ?' we said yes.. done! 'each kid alone? ' we said no..(How about that ? )

she was upset..but something was running on her mind(Oh .. Yeah ???) ..'u two together?' and then it happened..actually didn't happen.. me and hubby exchanged 'neeya?' looks and replied in chorus NO! I mean next time :)

I like ur bunch .. its cute ! (Reeeely?) we kinda knew shes a liar this time :p plz wait for 15 minutes ...I m Mandy !

Out she came with large paintings or so i thought for the other waiting customers..only the paintings had the picture of my family in vellaikaran rusty red tint. OMG, is this we ?

Not a big difference from the real but we cant look better and the surprise of the blow-ups equalled looking at ur cut out in Anna salai .

One is free .. how many u want ? this frame is x $

This one with 3 photos is x $ frame each photo x $ this ones called retro, black & white.. for effects x $ extra...

Without the frame the photos seem unfair..

4 still s some effect s ok not bad ! but to choose from 11 still s was task. she managed to get the kutty paapa zoomed to an individual potrait.

we had a doubt if people are not sure of buying , what do they do with the blow-ups? we asked . she replied , 'for the copyrights its 5 X x $ ... '

x here is the total purchase .

remba sandosam !! and that s our donation !

Mandy ..u r a family favourite .. ava thaan enga Anjalai !

Congrats Grads !

My kid is a graduate now .. so to say. It is fun to watch ur kid walk the aisle with the orchestra building ur kids way to glory. so do you feel for the other kids too .

Beach party song blared as the kids arrived at the podium in their beach wear with their little steps dancing to the lively beats. they had a program for about 20 minutes.They left the audi when they played the heart wrenching graduation songs for the slide show of the whole year of cute and funny snaps of the pre kindergarten days.the songs were too good .Actually takes the parents to their days of actual graduation ... friendship , love , miss u , fun tags would best suit the songs. We were so much indulged in the songs that we forgot completely the purpose of the evening.. yes the graduation ceremony was about to begin.. The lights went on , and the grand graduation music started playing as each kid walked the aisle, adorned in his /her academical , tassel, trencher all in golden yellow .That was some sight to remember. I was not sure if I should feel proud for that moment .Finally as the podium was filling from the right, left and center , all the kids in chorus , supposed to be in harmony , though ...said something totally indecipherable and flew their caps .

Funny, they tease the actual graduation but this event actually is my cue for all the rat race in the years to come :) Loved it , every bit of it .. :))

P.S: u know the photographer in me.. I was completely lost to know if I should take a video or a snap :( when the tassels flew outta of every cap .

Celebrating Life !

Guess wat ? I got a "celebration tray" in my name , ordered by the midwife :)))
Wow ! A fake champagne with wine glasses and a note saying ,"Congratulations !! " with Strawberry decorations.
When I thanked her the next time I saw her , She snapped me , " Oh that's nothing , You did a great job Mommy ". On top of the world now :)

Hope u ppl get a clue , why I was on and off blogging for sometime now.
My hands are full and you know m a blogoholic .. so will keep posted at my convenience :p

Paradise regained !

The joy of finding something /someone long lost is endless.
Thats how I felt when I could try my hands on the veena after an unbelievable hiatus of 12 years.
Nobody stopped me, but its the mind was not willing to play.
Well ,I didnt learn much, so dint hav much to forget . I m not planning to hit a class for sometime ..
but m definitely looking forward to play some worthy notes ..
hope it doesnt turn out that the mind wants to play and People want to stop me.

Click click click...

Who wudnt wanna treasure a memorable moment in an album? I dont hav a fantastic face, to be admired even by me.But I cherish it ,its my identity afterall.My friends could easily say m a photo-freak.Thats because, before my presence is even felt in a place, I start clicking around. One reason could be that I dont have too many albums from my childhood,except for the group photos and the other formal snaps.

For once, I wanted to capture myself in my workplace on my very last working day there ,it was not allowed though. Most of the buddies out there, do that.If the rules are strictly abided by,how can one see a snap of almost every friend posing in his/her office cubicle on Orkut? well this one snap was not for the architectural details of the office cubicle but for the wonderful memories I shared with a long lost friend from school (Sangee).We attended every tuition class together.She gave me lift everyday to every class.Sweet girl is her that if shes the epitome of sincerity , dedication and hardwork, I was just the opposite.After schooling , we cud hardly catch up.I ran into her , years later when she told me that she had an offer from this MNC. I started dreaming of a similar offer.To my wonder, I got an offer from the same MNC, after not more than 3 months.An year later , I saw her once.She had to fly overseas.
Since then,I dint get much to see her.It was entirely by accident that I happen to see her on my last working day in the office.She told me that she was getting married soon.It struck me that I wont be there for her wedding.I have never seen her so happy before.I wanted to capture the cheer on her face ,forever.Infact , I just wanted a picture of us both.But it was office and no tourist spot, so I took the snap, thinking atleast she will be in the picture.Guess what? I couldnt hear the click of the camera. After a hiatus , I took out the camera, not charging it enough.Eventually,it ran out of charge, much to despair.Need I say ,I couldnot handle her saying ,"Perfect !" ,with the 'same old you' look on her face.

All are from Parents...!

Difference of opinion, especially in Marriage is quite inevitable. I have my fair share of struggling and juggling, everyday.You must be knowing that girls are programmed to talk more or atleast I talk nonstop. My husband listens to what I say first and then he listens and listens and then he listens.Did I say he listens...? I mean he listens to me a lot and seldom responds.

Since I dont give him more than 10 seconds to think of a reply , by the time he arrives at a reply I would have posed him 3 more questions.There again he listens only to listen again.Once, some friend of my husband told us of the book (u must be knowing the book )and advised us not to read the book unless we fear that things are really not gonna work the way it is. Also he meant that it is a bliss to be unaware of what may come upon the happy face of the marriage made in heaven.
Every time I sense a problem, a strange pattern of argument(speech) follows it and eventually, I give up struck dumb.Since I talk a lot , my silence is daunting to me ,more than anyone else.This book flashed on my mind and I thought why not give it a try, might be of some help. The book says if marriages are made in heaven, everything that follows sure is from hell and most of them are discussed in the book , like when you come home after an exhausted day at the office.what I inferred from the first few chapters I had read is If You both find yourself lost somewhere, your man never wants to discuss about it but is still working on it. And you stop him from working on it by discussing it nonstop, without actually working on it. I admit.The next time I feel anything brewing trouble,I was determined to keep quiet.

So it happened one saturday, we were heading for a shopping mall and lost the way when we were almost there.The book says, if I discuss with him, why we lost the way,it might upset him, even if we make it on time.Instead, If I dont, he might figure out on his own , maybe it takes another 10-15 minutes. By every nerve , I wanted to insist ,that he inquire of someone on the road to locate the mall but ,I kept quiet.And he kept his fingers crossed that he finds the way on his own but,in no minute , he pulled the car and sent me to ask the old lady across the road to locate the mall. It worked...!but the other way round. He talked and I listened to him.Hope you understand how trying was it for me to keep quiet for that one minute under pressure and for him, to break open his usual 'Mouna ragam'. So these days if I dont get a reply from him, I dont bug him with another bunch of questions.To my surprise, I notice he responds quickly, Touch wood! Please dont come to the conclusion that If u dont post a comment , I might stop publishing ;)

I hate u..... becoz I love you !

He cudnt think of anything in the world but me and I was not quite sure if I carried the same emotions for him. He cud hardly glance at me. Waiting for me ...desperate...neglected, even if his eyes were to catch me,my looks wudnt be inviting. Not that I avoided him , but I had my own chores.I had a list of things to do while his only job was to wait for.... me.

Time and again, People told me , I was lucky to have him.He made me feel special.Deep inside, I wud ask myself , if he was lucky to have me. I wud reply wryly, "If its not for me , he wud have been lucky ".I wud shower him with gifts, when all he wanted was my time.He thought I would love him like a mother. Not until I decided to be with him, I realised, he no longer wanted me. Maybe he had learnt to survive my absence.

Now I dont mean anything to him, not more than just a visitor glancing at him from the distance unreachable.

But I was not a visitor anymore. I wanted him badly. I neared him, took his arms in mine, but he pulled away.I was hurt badly.I couldnot handle the anger and the hatred in his voice. Love takes its time to unveil and time wud heal everything, I consoled myself. And the wait seemed to last forever. I lost my hope of winning him back. I thought , if I m sweet , he might like me.I knew his demands were weird, nevertheless I always budged. Understandably , he never regarded me like before. I was no longer special.

After quite sometime, I gathered the courage to tell him his demands were weird, and I would leave him. He was shocked to hear me.And I could see the anger on his face,but this time ,it was out of Love. I could see the pain in his eyes, what he had been through waiting for me...Tears rolled down my cheeks, I loved him so. He was in my arms weeping. I patted him, gently promising," I wont leave you, my son. Not ever..!".

Newton's third law..

My kid meticulously messes up things in the house (like I dont) with all the care and due respect to every single entity in his toybox. All his toys wud be juxtaposed, only I wudnt get to see the carpet clear. Almost everytime I see anything like this (not when I play with him), I tell him , "I cant turn my back on you for a second", in a voice almost a grumble.

Today I tucked him for a cat nap and went on my way clearing the carpet , so I cud run the vacuum cleaner before he's up to build his electronic city (?! ).
Guess what ? Before I cud ask him why he was around, still not sleeping, he muttered ,"I cant turn my back on you for a second". When I cudnt believe wat I had just heard, he was all smiles....... My Sweety !