Rain musings

is done to Thank Sun omachi. He gives us Arusi (Rice), pappu(Pulses), goutumai.  (wheat).  - Says Sanja . Her aunty at school makes it a point to tell stories / heads up on each festival. Sanja explained what is pongal. She wanted to know why is Bhogi celebrated. Here is what I came up with. We burn old papers/ sleeping mats / brooms etc to signify that we want to burn all our past wrong doings.  And  to use it  for our own betterment (;)), I asked her what bad habit is she going to burn away. We have decided we wont cry when we get up in the morning. She will get up everyday with smile and laughter.  And for past 3 days , she is keeping it up :). kala tikka .

I would like Sanja to read about some people , family members she hasnt seen and also remember the days she spent with those she is living with.  Some of these people are the ones I had best times with.  Shall start posting incidents , thoughts on them as and when possible.

The ending of 2011 - The year it was - Okay with many ups and downs . Ups: Sanja started school. She is learning new stuffs good and some not so good stuff. But the very good stuff overweigh the not-so good stuff. I am back to studying. S business slowly picking up . Were able to take vacation twice - to Munnar and Goa. Part payment of home loans. Experimenting with dishes at home. Gaining confidence that I can whip up anything. I  can actually make delicious food. Downs: Work -life balance gone for a toss since now I have to accomodate studies in it. Financial constraints since S busines is yet to make turnovers. Personally, had a short fuse on temper. Need to grow up and leave behind some childish-ness in me. Sanja is still adjusting to school life- the year saw continuous sickness  average of  a fever per month. The beginning Looking forward to 1. Seeing some cash inflow and having more savings. 2. Do some vacations. 3. Good health for all of us....

Day 1: start of late -to catch the flight. hurry burry get in and settle down. Have Sanja ask 101 question on when it wil ltake of, when the blades will spin.Feed chapati when stationed at B'lore. Then land at Goa around 1:30 pm. First thing that hit us was the heat. Even chennai was colder compared to Goa. Then travel for 1 hour to reach the resort. Paradise valley.Settle down in the suite. Head to a resturant -have some snacks as it is late for a lunch (and they didnt have lunch).We could see the Calangute beach from here. The hotel had a back entry to beach!!. Sanja wanted to get into swimming pool. Roamed about ,familiarized with the place. GOt some cool chappals. Day2: The most hectic day. Being our wedding anniverary day, we all donned new dress. Headed for a quick breakfast. Waited for outrtour bus to South Goa. Place we visited: - Dolphin  visit (which we didnt go).  marimar beach. mangeswar temple. shanthi durga , bom jesus, st.basilica.(Francis Xavier)-his body...

Saturday- Got up at 6:30AM - cleaned up the house (sweeping . mopping). Had head bath since we had Karthigai deepam. Then started cooking food. Dishes : Pumpkin pullipu koothu, rasam, raw banana curry, payasam, vadai. Sanja on the other hand was painting some of the new diyas , the newspaper etc.. Then snoozed alongwith Sanja. In the afternoon - cleaned up the diyas, helped MIL GMIL with the kadalai orundais. Made maggi for self and Sanja. Sanja put manjal -kumkum on all the diyas. Slef poured oil and placed the thirees. All got dressed up, lit the diyas and decorated the home.  Bursted some flower-pots, thara chakaram. Then went to mottai madi to watch the lunar eclipse. For the first time saw the whole thing live. S and I were guessing the constellation and found the Orion. Sanja had a quick look at the eclipse and ran away to her friends place to play.Apparently she couldnt digest the raghu eating moon and spitting out the whole thing ;). Then we all had the bath and ...

So the whole family had a picnic on saturday( Sep 10th) at Sanja montessori school. (Iam almost 2 months late in posting this --ooops) First we visited the temple inside the campus. Then the school van took us to the various places inside the campus. The swimming pools for the big kids and the tiny tots are well maintained .it is good to see that extreme care is taken when they are taught to swim. Then to the kids-friendly park. The swings, sliders , see-saw and whole works .There is a gym which is child proofed. This has small houses, sliders, hoops and that kinda stuffs. This the place Sanja likes it the most. Shaded from the sun and no sweating ,tiring you see. Last we were dropped off at her class.We chatted up with her Sumitra aunty and other akkas. She showed us what all she does in the class. She picks up her work (game) , plays it and then places them back at their place. Her aunt comments- Sanja has almost learnt whatever she has to learn for the year. She and another g...

So what we tried making. 1. Pudina parathas 2. Yummy healthy samosas And both turned out to be gr8. The pudina parathas could have been a bitter more spicy. The samosas were a hit. The vacation form studies does wonders. This is the first weekend after my exams and was left with plenty of time at hands. So tried out these dishes.