Appa, Coffee and Me

It's been 4 months,  since I blogged....! But today, I just wanted to share or put my things out, so here I am! This morning I was in beauty parlor, I was getting my eyebrows done....!  It's a small beauty salon, with 4 chairs and couple of staff or beauticians, as you can call them.  I go there, since the people are very nice, caring and I know them very well now. I heard the door opened, the door has a small glass chimes, so whenever the door opens, you can easily know. Since I had closed my eyes, I could only hear, the chime sound and people talking...! A lady came inside, and said "She is my mom, will you do her eyebrows, I need to go and pick up my son from daycare, I will come back in half hour?" So the beautician said, "Sure, we will do"! And again I heard the door chime, and thought, the lady must have left....! Now I heard, the "mom" sitting next to my chair and immediately started talking in hindi, national language of India, wit...

Couple of weeks ago,  I was watching a movie...a Hindi movie or wait a minute, I cannot recollect, which language....these days I watch movies, and it can be Hindi/Kannada/English...so I am unable to recollect which language movie.  But I remember the phrase  in that movie which got registered in my head "God helps those who help themselves"!!!! I remembered my Appa!  That was his favorite phrase, he used to always quote that phrase!  And he had a unique way of saying that phrase, he used to say "God helps....." and stop, and look at our faces, and one of us, used to complete it "those who help themselves"! He used to stop expecting either my mom or my brother or myself, to complete the phrase! And if nobody completes, he used repeat again, "God helps..." and finally one of us used to complete!! Appa has explained the meaning of the phrase, which actually is so beautiful and very meaningful.  It emphasizes the importance of self initiative a...

2017 is coming to an end...! I felt this year just flew away....! This year was not good either...in terms of loosing Appa, suddenly, I just feel that, he left suddenly, abruptly! Its been only 6 months he left..! Last year, same time...Appa was not well and in the hospital. There is always this tradition here, that "Santa Claus" come, to every house, at this time of the year, a week before Christmas, and if you are outside, he gives you candy canes!!!! The local Fire Department guys, will come in the Fire truck, with the alarm ON, in the night time, so that people knows that they are coming! Kids especially, love to go out, way to Santa and he gives Candy canes, which becomes a special moment for them! The Fire truck passes by every house, every street, even small streets, so that nobody misses out, the glimpse of Santa and the candy canes! Kids always go out, even I go out with them, since I love to see the enthusiasm and cheer of all our neighbors and kids, and take...

Where and what should I start with, today!!  Mind is kind of blank or rather I can say, very silent today! Birthday!  Yeah it's my birthday, today!! Kind of funny, that I myself is writing about it...! Well, for a person like me, who is introvert and don't feel the need of attention, mentioning about my own birthday, seems bit silly and childish!? Anyways, I already did, lol, so like to express with you, that this birthday I felt that I am an orphan!! Orphan is a person without parents! And yes I lost both of them, in less than a year! I am an independent adult, married, with kids, a busy mom, husband travels for work, so have some extra weight of responsibilities and duties on my shoulder! But that does not mean that, I have to behave like an adult and move on....! I miss both of them terribly! I was my "Dad's Princess"! My birthday was always a special one, always filled with love, and happiness and always felt on top of the world, since he(they) used to ma...

Driving is one of the few things, which I really love! I can say, I conquered my many fears, by learning to drive! It took quite sometime, for me to drive, after coming to this country! But I did! And I really enjoy, feel accomplished and satisfied. It satisfies and makes me feel proud of myself, when I drive. But I never drove on a high way, long distance, and long distance in night or on a construction road, without shoulder nor drove, on narrow lanes, where big, huge, gigantic trucks, pass by you or in front of you or behind you, intimidating! This time, for the first time in our life, we thought we will drive, to our friend's house in Lansing and from there to Chicago and back home! Well, thats too much of distance to drive, almost 2000 miles all together! Even my husband has not done so much driving. We thought, since kids are growing up...they might enjoy and co-operate and appreciate driving. We went 10 day trip, 4 days pretty much driving! Since most of our drivin...

Today I happened to visit B.V.K Iyengar road, which is the retiail hub of Bangalore! I am planing to buy a brass Ganesha idol about 2 feet, for my foyer! So I have been looking for it everywhere. And somebody suggested my SIL to check out in B.V.K Iyengar road, where you will find tons of choices and prices reasonable and affordable. So we planned for today and left the house after lunch, it was rush hour, and added to that its Saturday, but still,we managed to get their at a decent time. Oh My God! It's been such a long time, I visited this place...! And to my astonishment is it has not changed even a bit! It's the same narrow roads, lots of people walking, two wheelers not bothered even if you are coming right in front of them, huge trucks loading and unloading goods, and it's such a busy place that even to cross the road, you need to make space in between the moving vehicles, else you can keep standing not even moved an inch! The amount of dust, pollution, smoke fro...

I am not new to blogging and this blog is dedicated to my Dad, who passed away 25 days ago! I like to share my memories, experiences and my Dad's phylosphy about life, his knowledge, and wisdom! Yesterday I went out with my girls in the noon and was coming back in auto by evening. Since yesterday was a public holiday to observe a festival, I saw a lot of crowd and suddenly traffic jam, that auto had to come to a stop almost! Then I looked around to find where we were...it was Lalbagh! It's a botanical garden, in Bangalore, which means The Red Garden in English, which was commissioned in 1760, by one of the Mughal emperors. Suddenly I saw a girl who might be 10-12 years old putting her hand inside her Dad's arm and crossing the road, going towards Lalbagh. Those arms were strong, warm and protective and I could easily make out seeing the girl's face that she is happy and lucky to have the world's best Dad who is so very caring and kind! Auto started moving fur...