" A very Happy, Healthy, Peaceful and Prosperous New year 2011".
Listen to this beautiful poem written by great tamil poet Bharathiyar that consolidates my new year wish every year since childhood. Especially this year where we need extra strength and patience to deal with all challenges ahead with peace and prayers.
Manathil uruthi vendum song sung by K.J.Yesudoss in the movie Sindhu Bhairavi.
Let the mind be firm Let the speech be sweet Let the thoughts be noble Let one attain what’s dear Let all dreams come true And quickly, too Let there be wealth and happiness And fame in this world Let the eyes be open Let one be determined in achieving one’s goals Let the women attain freedom Let God protect us all Let the land be fertile Let us feel the heaven here Let the Truth prevail Om Om Om Om
And I am grateful to know the Tamil language to understand appreciate this great poet's words.
PS: I know that a few people from my family and handful of friends read this blog regularly . If you are a reader of this blog who doesn't come under family and friends group , can you please delurk and say hello. Getting a "hello" from new blog friends would be a fantastic way to welcome 2011.
We had a quite thanksgiving weekend and NR took over CB and owned him for the five days. I get a warm and special feeling seeing NR hug and kiss his dad with absolute love and affection.
The first-born kids are the luckiest one to get the full attention of their parents. Sometimes it lasts way beyond their childhood well into their forties. My elder sister always pretended that she is the only child of my parents. And even now in her forties acts the same.
Before NR's birth, we went twice for the early bird Thanksgiving shopping specials. A group of friends (well guys for that sake) would sort out a plan for shopping with list of things to buy. I reluctantly accompanied my husband twice and I did not like the mayhem. When everybody ran to pick out the stuff, I froze seeing frenzied people all around me. It was worse than rush for metro water in Chennai during peak summer. CB and I are notoriously famous for skipping such shopping for a good sleep on our warm bed.
This year CB went for the early bird special to replace the Garmin GPS that went to Good will. He is the one who took the stuff to Good will stores including the GPS. I made breakfast for us and decided to go for Christmas shopping in the mall to buy gifts for family and friends. I have never gone for shopping without CB and hesitated a bit. I passed the mall daily during my commute to office but never once went there alone. CB forced me to go out since I can do shopping peacefully without having to worry about returning home for NR’s lunch and nap.
For the first time I went thru the ads from previous day paper and chose things I wanted to get. And I took the ads with me which made shopping a breeze. Within three hours, I was back home and it was a successful trip except for the long line at the counter. I bought entire winter wardrobe for NR. He is getting taller by the day and I had to replace his wardrobe every three to 4 months. But in between shopping we have no way but to make him wear his 3/4th height Jeans/pants like MGR . I wish my younger sister who loves to shop for NR is here with me.
Though it ‘s personally boring to shop for boys , it's also quick and easy with limited choice of colors (black, blue, khaki, grey, brown, few more shades of khaki ) and prints (checked, stripes, or solid). Most of the time, I go the girls section and drool at the collection. Sigh ……
While driving back I realized this might be the new reality that I ‘ll have to go shopping alone during the thanksgiving sales in future too, having two guys who are happy to do their stuff instead of shopping with me. I don’t envision NR and his dad waiting patiently while I picked their wardrobe.
After 12 miserable days of NR having terrible cough, sore throat, Ear infection, 102 degree fever along with unbearable teething pain (thanks to 4 molars coming one after another) , Appa and Amma getting flu-like fever and symptoms , normalcy has returned .
We visited ped twice before this episode and he dismissed all the symptoms and send us home like usual without any medication. NR came down with 101 + fever the very next day . On fourth day he cried inconsolably and I know something was not right. We took him to the immediate care and the dr there confirmed his ear infection and chest congestion.
This is the first ear infection for NR and dr prescribed antibiotics,steroids and some antihistamine. Along with his Acetaminophen and Ibuprofen dosage every three hours to bring down his fever, he had to take antibiotics thrice a day , steroids and antihistamine once a day.
We woke NR every three hours for the first three days to check his temp and to give fever medication. The boy woke up from his sleep every three hours and thanks to IPAD took his medication happily without crying like it's was a sweet syrup. He royally browsed all his "You tube" videos and played his fave apps on IPAD while taking his medications. And for the first time he drank his water without spitting .
NR behaves well (no crying) during his hair cut once a month(I give him haircut every month), Dr visits, birthday parties and in every situation imaginable thanks to IPAD . They drew blood from his tiny arm three months back for almost ten - 13 minutes. He cried a bit but IPAD was such a great distraction. The dr and nurses at our clinic are amazed at the way he uses his spelling app.
He had high fever and it was so cold and rainy outside when we took him to immediate care. He was so quiet and behaved well (with his teething pain) because he played his fave spelling app. The dr at the Urgent Care admired NR's IPAD skills and said he sees bright future for NR. Little did they know, how IPAD has taken the stress out of dr visit for his parents. We remember well how our dr visits used to go without IPAD. And for this I want to hug and kiss every member of the IPAD team at apple. So are millions of people benefiting from this technology. As a couple who work in leading technologies, we know how technology is helping /reaching out to kids with special needs. They have beautiful and cool apps for art, music for toddlers which also helps kids with Sensory Integration disorder who are not interested to use finger paints .
And he uses IPAD like a pro . No I did not teach him even once how to get into you tube or navigate the list up down or horizontally or close the songs. The only thing he hasn't figured out is how to power on the IPAD unlike his toys . Whenever I played devotional songs on IPAD YouTube app, before nap or bed time, I hid my hand movements because I don't want to lose yet another gadget to my 2 year old son. Only once I showed him how to use one his favorite spelling app on IPAD. He is bloody quick in learning stuff which interests him and all I have to do is just show him once that's it. But he has no interest to do normal everyday stuff like eating on his own or drinking water like a civilised baby without shooting it out every single time or communicating his needs. I am waiting patiently for the day when he will start talking again. Emm, And I thought I had immense patience before NR's birth . He is making me a "ZEN mama".
During day time, we had Diego and Dora film festival for all those 12 days . The boy who is allowed to watch TV for half an hour for lunch and dinner had a field day. Well, even when the whole family is sick somebody has to make meals, feed and do the everyday chores right.? I can hold the whiny sick baby or do chores.When both needs my attention, TV saves me. It takes a village to raise a kid and we seek TV's help when he is sick . And as a parent we have no problem with it. And this is the fourth time we had this non stop running of Diego and Dora episodes this year. Please God, let this be the last Diego and Dora film festival for this year and I wouldn't mind skipping the film festival entirely for next year. For a kid with febrile seizure fever episodes are nightmare for the parents. And we wish to skip that altogether. New year wish from NR and NR's desperate parents.
My father ran a free library as a youth. So we had lots of book on American and Russian history. All the books were translated in Tamil. It was thru my father library books, I learnt about Rasputin (it had couple of illustration of half naked Russian women .So I never read that book in front my dad) . BTW, do you guys remember this famous BoneyM number Rasputin. We had a good collection of Boney M and Abba tapes when we bought our first tape recorder in 19 78 or 1979.
We had this huge book titled “Origone Vazhi Pathai” (Oregon Trail). I read every book from my father’s library during summer holidays especially during my elementary years. Never in a million years, had I imagined that Portland, Oregon will become my home away from home. When we moved to Portland, Oregon, I read many books on Oregon Trail and visited Oregon Trail Interpretive center in Baker city, Oregon.
I read about Lewis and Clark expedition and about the famous Native Indian woman named Sacagawea. When we see this famous landmark Beacon rock on Columbia River, I recollect Lewis and Clark passage thru this rock in 1805. Last week OPB aired very interesting documentary “spirit of sacagawea” . This film gave a fresh view on Sacagawea’s life as young girl accompanying Lewis and Clark thru the eyes of Native American people.
I read this book Columbia River Basketry: Gift of the Ancestors, Gift of the Earth by Mary Dodds Schlick in 1999 . Few years back Art Beat aired program on Mary Dodds Schlick. I wish to meet her in person someday.
OPB aired program on Samuel Hill (1857–1931), founder of Maryhill Museum of Art, and the man responsible for constructing the historic Maryhill Loops Road(http://www.maryhillmuseum.org/loops.html). The first macadam asphalt-paved road in the Pacific Northwest was constructed in 1909- 1913. Every time we plan to visit this museum something else would come up. This July 4th weekend we were all set to start only to find that our new spanking Garmin GPS was missing. Later on (after a month or so) I realized that I kept the GPS on one of the decorative bowls along with other ceramic wares bound for Good will store this summer. I think that CB’s christmas present was meant to be donated to Good will store : ).
Thanks to OPB I am learning lot about the my city Portland, oregon, My home sweet home. When you guys get time check out OPB archives thru these two links.
I love PBS. I love to (used to) watch PBS non stop on weekends. PBS reminds me of my initial days in US in Kansas and Idaho. It was the happiest time of my life as a new bride in new country with a laid back life style. I was so busy with work and school in Chennai so the first year in US was so relaxing being a housewife. I learnt to cook from dozens of Indian cookbooks I’d carried all the way from India. I started to experiment with International cuisine watching PBS cooking shows.
PBS kindled the artist in me. I resumed painting after a long gap. I learnt to sew thanks to the quilting shows. I love their ad free programming. I love our local chapter OPB (Oregon Public Broadcasting) especially the “Art Beat” , “Oregon Field guide “ programs. We planned our weekend getaways (pre baby) based on the Oregon locations featured on that program. Their programs have unbiased views on religion, politics and world affairs.
I have special interest in programs based/filmed in India the latest being “The story of India”. Though I am familiar with history of India, this program narrated the history around the world along with incidents happened in India at that time.
I learn about current trends in arts (different mediums) thru Art Beat program, the latest being one of a kind photographic art. by the artist Natasha Bacca. I feel very fortunate to live in a state which has great artists, restaurants, outdoors, good mix of cultures from all around the world and friendly people.
We organize summer picnics with friend’s at Hagg Lake every year. It’s just a 30 minutes drive from home. This summer, I watched a program about the Hagg lake expansion to cater the growing needs of the population. When the expansion project completes, the places we drove around and the land we walked would be under water I feel like a part of history being made and I might narrate this story to my grand kids someday.
I learnt the history behind my neighbourhood’s(Forest park) lush green forest trails and bike path watching this program Forest Park: Portland backyard gem. The current residents of Portland are enjoying this beautiful place thanks to the pioneers who thought about land use for future generation .
No , I am not talking about Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) but the famous film play back singer P.B. Srinivas.I love his honey laced voice. I think it’s PBS voice which gave the (in)famous tamil actor Gemini Ganesan his title “ Kadal Mannan” (Romance King).
If you walk past my house everyday , you’ll most probably hear his music playing in the CD. If I am not at home you might bump into Meat loaf, Nazareth, or soft rock hits from 1960 -99 era. But we both like P. B. Srinivas . Thank god I fell in love with a guy who speaks the same language.
After my formal engagement ceremony in ’96 , we started going out to restaurant once or twice week for dinner after work . CB used to pick me up from my office in Numgambakkam High Road, Chennai. We frequented Woodlands Drive-In restaurant in Chennai due to proximity to my office and for their delicious “Channa Bathura”. I had the first taste of channa bathura at Woodland’s restaurant. We always sat next to the table where P. B. Srinivas used to sit. He was a regular visitor and we saw him every single time . He was always busy writing or reading so never thought of approaching him. I missed a golden opportunity to talk in person with my favorite singer. I never had big urge (fanfare) with my favorite singers at that time but now I do. Either my life in US or becoming a mom brought that change. If I ever see him now , I would run to him like a crazy teenager wanting to get his autograph.
His voice captivates every generation in my family right from my grandmother, my mom and her sisters and brothers ,my sister and her daughter and me and NR. I was pleasantly surprised to hear my five years old niece singing P. B. Srinivas hits when I visited her in 1999 from US. They moved from Karnataka to Tamil Nadu just a few months back before my visit. So, my niece had no chance of hearing old tamil songs in the radio. Within few months she learnt the lyrics just by listening to his songs in TV and would sing along with us.
Though we used to hear lot of tamil and hindi songs from Radio I wasn’t familiar with every play back singer’s name or the movie exception being some hindi songs . My mom used to tell us the name of the singer so I got familiar with Mukesh, Dilip kumar and other hindi singers.
My first introduction to P.B. Srinivas came during my middle school year. On one of those years the district N.S.S officer was the Chief Guest for our school annual day. After his speech he sang his favorite song which is P.B.Srinivas memorable melody “Chinna Chinna Kannanukku”. There was pin drop silence from the audience Even the Kindergartener’s were mesmerized by his voice. And suddenly we heard female voice sobbing and crying uncontrollably. It was my sixth grade history teacher Leema . Later that day, I learnt she lost her infant (baby boy) to tetanus just a month back and could not bear hearing him sing that song.
The incident that happened at the school day function made me listen to lot of P.B. Srinivas songs . I became a hard-core fan of him. His voice gave life to Kannadasan’s lyrics and he made each song a memorable one.
Here are few of my favourite songs by P.B.Srinivas
10. Nilavey ennidam Nerungathey (not able to find any link for this song)
P.S: While searching the songs for this pr, I saw the actual film videos for couple of song fo the first time. OMG. It's good thing I heard his voice on radio first than seeing the movies : ).
