Athens!

We (me and three other colleagues) won the Puma Urban Stampede National Finale in March 2016 in the corporate women's category which came with a prize of an all expense paid trip to Athens. Since we were going all the way anyway, we decided to extend the trip and check out Athens at leisure.

The run itself was splendid. We all ran the 10K category as individual runners and it was a huge realization to see what a well organized run looked and felt like. It was simply an amazing experience. I did my debut 10K in 50:58 and was super thrilled. This of course set the pace for the rest of the trip - to be enjoyed thoroughly.

It was refreshing to travel without kids - I have done it after 8 long years! Sleeping well, eating well, traveling well and just doing nothing else. It was splendid. Reminded me of my Europe road trip with cousins, way back in 2001-02.

Small mercies!

Thank you to God for helping me survive the worst day yet in this year, yesterday. Started with me having a nasty fall at 5 in the morning. I've been running distance since 15 years and never once did such a thing happen. One second I was thinking of Ayana's technique, next second I was wondering why I was flying, and the third I was flat on a black top road on my right hand. The only silver lining being that I had no major injuries and was able to run 5k after the fall. But the right palm and shoulder were bruised badly and hurt like hell. I get to work thinking the worst is over when my worried mom calls after a couple of hours and suggests we take my father in law to the hospital. He had fever which was down by Wednesday only to suddenly recur on Thursday. After 7-8 hours at the hospital with him, I get home to find my older one running a temperature and throwing up whatever he ate. In all this, my right palm and shoulder continued to go worse..

Phew 😌 for all that, this morning went like a dream. I was able to run my usual today. I literally single-handedly, since my right hand was of no use and Subhash was at the hospital with father-in-law, got kids ready for school, and I was actually happy that both of them were healthy enough to even be going to school! Could've danced even with my painful hand, so glad I was.

Hope to not have another day like this ever!

Like the eternal optimist, I was happy waking up this morning that things weren't much worse, they could have been, I could have broken some bones, my father in law's diagnosis could have been a lot more serious, my parents might have been out of town, and I would have had to fend for myself etc etc. Thank god for small and big mercies and thank god for family!!

Fifteen already?!

Yesterday was Dad's birthday - which means today was the day I left home to pursue my own path in life! It has been 15 years to date! What surprises me more than the fact that it is 15 years already is that it just seems like yesterday that I wrote that 10-year note - the last five years have gone by in a snap for sure - God knows where! But the point is, I had fun, I had a lot of fun. Except, of course when I had to see my mother-in-law off to the other world.

So, thank you life! And Happy Birthday Dad! Unlike when I wrote that 10-year note, now we spend all your birthdays together, and that is priceless!

And a shout-out to all my engineering buddies. It also means we finished that engineering course 15 years ago! Gosh, we are growing old..

Mr Darcy's Diary

I'm a great fan of Jane Austen sequels - I'm a little picky since I don't want the variation to be too wild in imagination, but once I am convinced, I go right ahead and buy :)

The latest one :

Mr. Darcy's Diary -is a wonderful re-telling of Pride and Prejudice from Mr Darcy's point of view. Its really nice and sweet, just perfect. I read through it in 2 sessions and am now doing a third round :) Well worth it.

Cup of joy!

Several months ago, I read this article on Citizen Matters -

http://bangalore.citizenmatters.in/articles/switching-to-sustainable-menstruation

I had heard about menstrual cups about twice by then, but had no idea how they worked - I just assumed they were another thing like Tampons.

After I read this article, I was struck very much by the fact that it is ZERO menstrual waste to landfills. I was determined to at least give it a shot, although I was always weary of even using tampons and never switched to them.

I knew if I thought too much, I would just keep postponing it, so I just went ahead and bought a Diva cup without thinking further, almost with a fierce determination.

I was a little nervous. I wanted to give it a trial once before the real deal. It was not a great experience. People did say everywhere that it would be a steep learning curve but I was more than sufficiently shaken.

Yet when the time came, I braved it, and I am so happy I did!

There is of course the ZERO guilt about generating menstrual waste month after month. And that is not even the best part! It is so amazingly convenient and comfortable, you can just forget that you are going through it! After a long long time, I've stopped cursing god/nature/whoever it is that is responsible for making women go through this pain month after month, and that is saying a lot!

Of course, when I went running there would still be some mishaps, but after 4-5 months of experience, finally the last time, even with running, it was amazing!

Ladies, if not all of you, at lease those of you who are married and definitely those with kids, please, do not make any more excuses, switch, and figure out the happiness! And of course, help in a big way with the environment :)

8

Eight years ago on this day, we took a flight out of SFO to Bangalore (never to go back - to this day at least!). We were coming back home, for me, after a seven year stint in the US.

I was a little nervous - we heard so much and yet so little. So few people moved back for good. Would we like it? Would we hate it?

Adding to that, I had never worked in India before - my first job and entire career had been in the US. People warned about things being different. There being more politics. The whole "sir", "madam" culture. Phew!

We came, we landed at a friend's place (of course all this is history, anyone can read it on my blog if they scroll back eight years!), they were gracious enough to host us for a week. Next day we set out with the friend's car and driver, spanned the length and breadth of Outer Ring Road and by evening had actually signed the lease for an apartment.

I still miss that apartment, so roomy, and airy. On the tenth floor, with a beautiful view of Bellandur Lake every morning!

Then we hunted for a house to own, bought one, had a kid, lost mother in law, had another kid, moved (in some direction at least) in careers and what not. Its been a blissful journey, one that I would not alter for anything.

It definitely helped me that most of the management at work here was from SJ and had worked there predominantly - the culture was exactly the same, made it a lot easier to blend in. My first and last day at Cisco SJ were exactly the same - 3/21. Exactly three years. I still miss that team, I have often said, the team and manager were the only things I ever missed from the US ;) But now I can confidently say, I have had many experiences here which help alleviate the longing for being back in a team exactly like that!

After we lost my mother-in-law, we often wondered, at least in the first couple of years, if we should move back. We have even traveled places to see if we would like to live there. Till date, we have not found another country we would like to immigrate to (US was anyway ruled out, been there done that, it wouldn't be exciting anymore unless some day we are forced to go back because of a super lucrative offer ;) ;) ). End of the day, polluted, or dusty, or crowded, or hot, we love this land, we want to be a part of its journey to greatness - we hope we will journey to greatness in our lifetimes and our kids will be happy and proud to have been born here!

To that day, cheers!

Closing 2015

Every year, we shut down at work for about 10 days, take PTO by force, (although, I would anyway do it) and have a good time. Since Rohan was born, and was old enough, I have been using the shut down time, to explore the city a bit more. We do spend most shut downs in Bangalore, thanks to Subhash being in retail and December not being a very friendly season for him to take off, it being the commercial-riot time and what not!

This year, I think we spent it very well too. Friday, Christmas - we went to the hitherto unexplored Gopalan Signature Mall on Old Madras Road in the evening. Oh and this was after I did my annual kitchen cleaning ritual all in the morning! Yay! Mall was very average and very crowded - no loss by not visiting further. I think except UB City and Phoenix plus both Forums, I don't like any other malls I've visited so far.

Saturday - December 26 - another long pending check list off - Bannerghatta National Park. I must say we were very happy with the zoo, the animals were aplenty (whatever varieties they had), monkeys were roaming all over the zoo, but kept to themselves, and all the animals very very active. Singapore Zoo on the other hand was highly over rated, all animals were heavily drugged and we had to wait ages to catch glimpses of some of them.

Monday - Dec 28 - the customary annual watch maintenance round - took watches which needed straps and batteries and drove to Indiranagar, took the metro ride from there to MG Road, walked around MG Road, Infantry Road, Brigade road etc, Rohan held up very well. Father in law was meeting some batch mates of his in MG Road so we went together, then we got back to Indiranagar, and did some timepass there waiting for him to get back by the Metro, then came back home together. Time. Well. Spent.

Tuesday - Dec 29 - Customary annual HAL Aerospace Museum trip - first time for Rohit, fourth for Rohan. Was a good one hour spent there :) Evening visited Subhash's office with Rohan and Father in law - BMTC Volvo and auto combined. Came back with Subhash. A happy child was Rohan when he realized how many modes of transport he used that day ;)

Wednesday - Dec 30 - again a long pending checklist item - Jawaharlal Nehru Planetarium. Rohan enjoyed it. Me and father in law went with him, the show was pretty nice and there was a small sized science park outside which was worth a good 15 minutes in the sun :)

Thursday - Dec 31 - Again a Metro Ride on Rohan's demand - this time some mundane work near Cauvery Bhavan - so again the three of us, me, father in law and Rohan set off, took the car to Indiranagar, metro to MG Road, Auto from there to Cauvery Bhavan, back, rinse and repeat! He was happy again, Metro is his favourite velagiri in Bangalore.

Friday - Jan 1 - this was a repeat wish. CCD on Brigade road! Took mom and dad with both kids this time, Baiyappanahalli Metro to MG Road, CCD, some window shopping on Brigade road and back after buying Rohan a 3-D "Tower Bridge of London" Puzzle from a street vendor. He definitely was in high spirits the whole time, excited to be going with his younger brother and coming back with his precious gift!

So there, it is weekend again and from Monday we get back to routine, for another three months, till the kid gets his summer break!