Hum honge kamiyaab!

November 27, 2011 at 1:10 pm (Family, Life, Musings)

A couple of days ago a good friend of ours invited us to a concert by YSL. Having attended another program earlier by a different set of young talents of NJ, I was very skeptical about the quality of this concert.  My friend and her husband had to constantly reassure me that this concert should not be missed( Thank you D and A for this!)

So Narad in tow, H and I attended the concert yesterday.  To say that the performances was stupendous would be an understatement.  The young artists had a strong hold on the language and the music and created magic on stage.  It was heartening to see kids born here so well versed in carnatic music!

Bringing Narad up in the US, I am often plagued by whether I will be able to successfully instill some of the Indian culture (read – classical music, classical dance, painting, and food!, in my case ) .  The recent years of my stay in New Jersey has shown me that the Indians in NJ are more into  my kind of “culture” than probably my peers back home !

Yesterdays music program once again drove home to me that my kind of culture is definitely rich in New Jersey!  The dedication to music among the artists and the pride among  the parents was noteworthy.   Kudos to you all for having persevered in instilling music in your kids, and  having kept up with the endless practice/soul-searching/questioning sessions.

As a young parent, I thank you for upping the interest in my little ones, who have been constantly holding a “Kutchery” at home since we came back from the event 🙂 Hopefully one day they will be able to make their mark in some form of fine arts….
I have been humming “Hum honge Kamiyaab ek din” ever since!
Ciao for now,
Shankari.

2 Comments

Darling Kachda Phenko!

October 18, 2011 at 11:20 am (Family, Life)

In my community trash days are Tuesdays and Fridays.  Collecting garbage and keeping it in front of the house is a task I absolutely detest, hold on for a sec, it is second to having to put away folded clothes!

So, anyway, like I was saying this is something I delegate with unflinching regularity 🙂  So tuesday’s and Friday’s  mornings I am at my sweetest with H.  Today he says to me, kithne pyar sae bolti hai…. Darling Kachda Phenko!

 

10 Comments

All izz well!

September 22, 2011 at 2:17 pm (Family, Life)

Hello people!

How are all of you?  It has been a really long time since I posted here.

If you remember, the last I posted was from India. After that many things happened which took up most of my time and energy and the blog became my last priority.  We had to come back from India before my delivery due to some issues with Na and R’s visa. So I came back here end of Feb and delivered my third daughter(Ad on this blog) in the US.  She was suspected with having  some heart related issues, in utero, and was examined at birth.  With God’s grace all issues had resolved by the time she was born. The prenatal cardiologist, wanted to check her at 3 months of age   I took her for an examination last week and the doctor pronounced her healthy and developmentally proceeding as per her age.

This last pregnancy, delivery and post recovery was quite taxing and I am slowly coming back to a routine. I hope to post and take part in events regularly, time permitting!

Looking forward to chatting with all of you 🙂

Ciao for now,

Shankari.

25 Comments

Knock Knock! Anybody there?

January 29, 2011 at 11:47 pm (Family, Life, Musings)

Hola all of you!

It has been quite a while since this blog saw any activity at all. To all of you who wondered/looked/mulled over/pinged me a huge sorry for no updates and a heartfelt thank you! I am very much humbled and honoured by the blog love 🙂  

The Avial family is doing quite alright and is still stationed in India, atleast the mom and Narad are.

The reason for an extention of their stay is an addition to the Avial household end of may/early june, combined with a severe sciatic pain(it can be a pain in the a**, really!) . The doctor’s in India advised against travelling and hence Avial amma made the decision to stay back!

It has been about a month now since I made the decision and it has taken this time to adjust to it 🙂  The kids are in a local play school and are liking it now although initially they had huge issues with everything. 

So that has been the reason for no activity on this blog. I am not sure how many posts I will be able to write, the reason being the laptop is not now tied to my neck 🙂  Hopefully I will be able to put in some update once in a while.

In case I am unable to be frequent, do keep us in your prayers girlies!  And folks that have my contact email/number, do keep in touch 🙂

Ciao for now,

Shankari.

52 Comments

Adios Amreeka Hola Bangalore!

November 23, 2010 at 11:50 am (Family, Festivals, Food!, Life)

So, the Avial household is all set to leave to India tomorrow evening. The bags are packed, the mood is set, the family is eagerly waiting and Narad’s enthusiasm to board the flight is very very infectious! 🙂   This visit is a time for celebrations and I just can’t wait to get there and start that shopping and enjoying all the festivities 🙂 

I will miss reading up all the blogs  I read regularly.  See you all in a month’s time!

Last heard from Na’s mouth – “Amma, the plane is so high up in the sky, how can we get into it, should we carry a ladder or something?” !!

Tata!

36 Comments

Happy 4th Star birthday little laddu!

October 27, 2010 at 11:20 am (Family, Life)

Time does fly doesn’t it. It was like yesterday I was holding little Na in my hands at the hospital and wondering if the hardly 6 pounds, squealing baby was really mine! and today she turns four according to the hindu calendar.  

Happy birthday little one! May you be blessed with lots and lots of aiyya chattai like you keep praying every day 🙂  and amma is making your favourite noodles for lunch today along with an awesome cake with lots of frosting on it for you.

Tata!

36 Comments

New Beginnings, weekend update and kala tikka!

October 25, 2010 at 2:02 am (Family, Food!, Life)

Hola!

Na started sloka class today, it was held at the local Sai baba mandir and both she and I were so excited to be going to “paatu” class as she repeatedly told everyone that cared to listen 🙂  She was so excited, she refused to take an afternoon nap.  So after giving her a  nice long headbath in the afternoon,  wearing  matching chudidar chattais, off we went to the temple.  Class started in full swing, conducted by two wonderfully talented women. They recited the slokams first and then made the children sing them. Recitation went fine with Na, 10 mins into the singing session, she was snoring!  So much for all the enthusiasm, and teaches me that I need to make her take a small nap in the afternoon!

She woke up promptly after the sloka class was over and was rather upset that she missed all the singing!  On the way back home, I told her that she will have more classes and she can make up for the lost lessons then.  We kept chatting and I got a little philosophical and said that there will be a time when she will be attending a lot of classes, going to them on her own and amma will be too old to take her anywhere and the little imp  immediately tells me “Amma, you are not going anywhere, you will always be with me”! Got me all misty eyed, only the thought that I was driving kept me from bawling!!!

Saturday morning we attended a pooja in a dear friend’s house and the evening was spent entertaining some guests at home. After a very long time, I made “set” dosa at home and it was a hit with the guests!

Hope you all had a great weekend too!

Tata!

20 Comments

Navratri – Take 5!

October 24, 2010 at 11:47 am (Family, Festivals, Life)

This year’s Navratri came and went and yet I did not find time to sit down and put up at least a summary of the event! Finally today, I decided to put up a mini post before Diwali was staring at my face 🙂

Every year Navratri(I have been celebrating this for 5 years now) is a very grand affair at the Avial household, we host guests almost everyday and a small dinner consisting of  some form of mixed rice, curd rice, one sweet and chundal is given to everyone visiting.  This time however, my health was not at its best and we decided to cut short both our guest list and also the celebrations. 

We did however manage to have a Lalitha Sahasranamam and Vishnu Sahasranamam chanting on Saraswati pooja day which was attended by about 5 families. Overall, I would say, Navratri – Take 5 was a short and sweet success!  Leaving you all with some pictures of the golu.

Tata!

26 Comments

Forewarned is Forearmed!

October 18, 2010 at 7:33 pm (Life, Musings)
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  1. Narad’s mom invited many to see Golu at home.
  2. Narad got invited to see Golu at many homes
  3. Everywhere Na had just one question for amma, “does this aunty have girl babies”? was duly asked. Amma answered in affirmative if the aunty had girls, negative otherwise.
  4. The ones that did not have little girls, were promptly asked right at the door, why they did not have little girls, much to amma’s and the aunties embarrasment!

So dear blog aunties, if we were to ever visit you or you were to visit us, please be prepared for this question 🙂

Tata!

26 Comments

To garden, to garden, to learn numbers and letters!*

September 27, 2010 at 1:48 pm (Awards, Blog Friends, Life, Musings)
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* sing to the tune of to market to market to buy a fat pig 🙂

Today’s morning’s conversation as Na was getting ready for school –

Na – “Amma are we going to school”?

ATTRIMM – “Yes, yes, hurry, otherwise we will be late”

Na – “Amma are I’m going to kindergarden”? *notice the usage of “are”*

ATTRIMM – “No kanna, you are still too little”.

Na – “But, why amma”?

ATTRIMM- “Only when  you grow bigger you will be able to go to Kindergarden, for that you need to drink you milk and eat breakfast without troubling amma” *hyuk hyuk! that ensure’s she eats today’s breakfast.Mom feeling mighty chuffed with herself 🙂 *

Na – “That’s okay amma, if I cannot go to the kindergarden, can you take me to the flower garden”? *hyuk hyuk turns to huh! and the puffed up ego deflates like a pricked balloon”!!*

ATTRIMM– A thousand things running in my mind!!! 🙂

I did remember, however, that helped a bit with ego! I was awarded the “Cherry on top award” by Shruti. She says it is for beautiful blogs with a little bit of extra. Don’t know about Naradtales, but Shankari is definitely a little bit extra(large) 🙂 So thank you Shruti, both from my blog and from me !

As per the rule I am supposed to list one thing that I would change in my past, if I could.  Though I wished for a thousand things to be changed when I was younger, in retrospect, I feel my life has been good the way it has been lived all these years. I don’t wish to change anything, since I have only gained from each experience.

I am also suppsed to tag 6 people, however, I pass on this award to all of you for making that extra effort to read and comment on Naradtales. Thanks guys! I would not enjoy blogging so much had it not been for all of you!

Hope all of you had a great weekend.  

Tata!

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