Jam packed weekend

The title is self-explanatory. We’ve had a jam-packed weekend, actually a jam-packed few days. It all started on Friday. DD had extra music practice since her music class was performing for the first time at the annual day function for the local temple. My BFF’s daughters and DD are in the same music class. We both also needed to do some shopping – she, since she has recently undertaken a weight loss program and has done phenomenally well with it. She needed to update her wardrobe to fit her new size. I needed to shop since I recently threw out clothes that I have owned for over 3 years and have washed so many times that it is difficult to say what color they originally were. So post music class we decided to shop with the girls in tow. We had a super fun time and we ended with dinner at the girls’ favorite restaurant in the mall.

On Saturday morning, I took DD to her last swimming lesson for this session, brought her home and put her down for a nap. Her class was performing at the temple in the evening and I wanted her to get enough rest. On Saturday, my cleaning lady ditched me, too. I have a cleaning lady that comes in once in a while and does the vacuuming, dusting, mopping etc when I am really pressed for time. She was to come on Saturday since I knew I would have no time to clean during the weekend. However, she couldn’t make it due to a personal emergency. My house was filthy and I realized there was no way I could leave it looking like that. So after DD went for a nap, I spent 2 hours scrubbing, mopping, dusting, cleaning and got some quality time with the vacuum. DH was MIA in all of this since he was out picking some supplies for his hiking trip.

Come 4:00 PM, I got DD up, dressed and to the temple. The kids did really well for a first time performance. They’re all between six and eight years of age and performed on stage the first time ever.You can hear them here. Post the performance we went to a friend’s house for dinner. The night went by quickly with good food, music, laughter surrounding us.

Sunday morning, DD had a music class. We finished that and set off on our drive to Seattle. We were headed to a SONU NIGAM concert. This was our wedding anniversary present to each other for having successfully stayed together for 12 years. We got to Seattle with a couple of breaks at about 6:30 PM. The concert went on till 11:30 PM that night. I can’t say anything about Sonu Nigam that hasn’t been said before. He was phenomenal. Worth every penny we spent and every minute of the back and forth drive. We started driving back at 12:30 AM, got home at about 3:30 AM with DH driving all the way. It was a difficult drive. DH had to try really hard to not fall asleep at the wheel while I tried to stay awake next to him and keep him talking. We got home and bundled a sleeping DD into bed. We were up at 7:30 on Monday morning since DD had a field trip to the local beach. We got her to school and DH chaperoned the trip with a few other parents.

DH and DD came back from the trip looking wet and bedraggled at 3:30 PM in the afternoon. A quick shower and a quicker lunch and we all took a nap on a Monday afternoon. The lack of sleep had finally caught up with all of us. We woke up and went to the temple to seek God’s blessings. We came back and went to dinner with friends and thus ended our 3 days of celebrations.

It feels like quite the accomplishment to have completed 12 years of marriage. When I look at our life, I only find reasons to be thankful. God has been immensely kind to us. I end this with the hope that our life ahead will continue to be full of love, laughter, kindness, lasting friendships and an ever-increasing readership of the blog

P.S: I have found a way to add videos w/o revealing faces, so here’s DD’s school talent show piano recital and here’s my class singing at the local Kalakendra performance

The much awaited India post

You already know the trip to India was hectic, busy and tiring. If you didn’t know, now you do. What you probably didn’t know and I will now tell you about is how this trip to India was satisfying to the senses.

I will start with the sense of sight. This was a trip where I saw color wherever I went – when I packed saris for all the ladies in the family to give at the wedding or the hint of rose on the blushing bride’s cheeks or when DD came back soaked in color after playing Holi. There were fiery reds, cool blues, pretty peaches, warm yellows, dusky pinks, lovely greens – all immensely pleasing to the eye and some that had me coveting them like I had never done before. Also satisfying my sense of sight was the joy on my parents’ faces as they saw their baby boy take on the responsibilities of a householder. He, who came along when all the extended family had granddaughters. In a house full of pavadais and frocks there finally was a boy who played with cars, ran without looking and was thoroughly spoilt. I saw my uncles beam with pride because in this child they saw their own sons – much before they came along. I saw in him, images of my grandfather, when he was a young man. My brother is almost a spitting image of my paternal grandfather – the whole family has compared pictures and agrees. I saw a moment of grief on my dad’s face since his parents could not make it to the wedding due to advanced age and ill-health. I also saw enormous relief on his face when he conveyed to his father that the wedding had been conducted successfully. I saw my mother beam with pride when people told her how beautiful the wedding was. Conducting a South Indian Iyer style wedding with all the rituals in a 5 star hotel is not easy. There are too many small details to take care of and she pulled it off with aplomb.

There were beautiful sounds on this trip to India. From DD’s squeals when she met her favorite dogs, to family meeting each other after a number of years to oohs and aahhs of surprise when long time friends’ saw each other’s kids and marveled over how time has flown – this was a trip full of joyful sounds. There was uninhibited laughter, quiet chuckles, sighs of satisfaction, tones of surprise, beautiful music and the sounds of the ketti melam that signified the proverbial knot being tied. Nary was a harsh word spoken or heard. Even if it was, it was probably overwhelmed by all the goodwill and happiness surrounding the happy couple.

The smells, ahh the heavenly smells. The earthy henna that adorned the hands of all the women at the wedding, the aroma from the wonderful spread during all functions, the smell of jasmine flowers, the rose-water that was sprinkled on guests as they walked in the door, the smell of sandalwood that perfumed hands and the fragrance of the holy fire that bore witness to 2 people making a promise for life.

The taste buds were supremely satisfied and I can speak for everyone when I say this. For a week I gorged on my mother’s cooking. She made all my favorites and I ate 3 meals a day and woke up hungry every morning in anticipation of more delicacies. The food at the wedding was phenomenal. There was enough variety to satisfy everyone’s palate from the most hard-core South Indians to some international guests with more eclectic taste. Is it any wonder that I am having a hard time fitting into my jeans now?

This was a trip that satisfied the soul. My parents are extremely relieved that their son is now married and are extremely pleased with the choice he’s made. The newest addition to our family is extremely beautiful (I’m not biased, she’s a former model), exceptionally well qualified (Ivy league education), extremely warm and personable and I’m sure she’s going to be more daughter than daughter-in-law to my parents. My brother and SIL are both smitten with each other. They couldn’t keep their eyes off each other nor did they stop smiling throughout the wedding. It is said marriages in India are not just about 2 people tying the knot but about 2 families coming together. Fortunately for us, the 2 families have gelled extremely well. It was a pleasure to see the bride’s parents hand over their only child to my parents with supreme confidence and my parents welcome her with open hearts into their home and their lives.

I leave you here with some pictures from the trip.