Chiti I missed you....

I last visited my sister and nephew on Diwali(Oct17th).This Tuesday I went to visit my nephew, Adithya(he is going to be 6 yrs next mnth), actually to help my sister for one day as my BIL was away for his MBA exams. I went to pick Adithya from school in the afternoon. I thought he will jump out of joy looking at me after such a long time. But his reaction was quiet composed and he gave me a broad smile and we headed off to his swimming class from school. When I was helping him change into his swimming clothes he suddenly said ‘Chiti I really missed you so much’. I was overwhelmed with the honesty in his eyes and words when he said that. We do say ‘I miss you’ quiet frequently specially to anybody whom we meet after a long time. But his words were straight from his little sweet heart. I hugged him and felt so good.

Similarly, when I was giving bath to him the next morning he was talking something (he usually talks a lot at home non-stop in fact). Again just like that he asked me ‘Chiti do you not think of me when you were away?’ I was shocked to hear this, wondering what made him think of such a question. I said ‘yes Kanna I always think of you, why are you asking this?’ and he replied saying ‘Because it is so long since you visited me last’. I was moved again.

Why i feel so overwhelmed and special about what he said is because,
He is basically a very content and composed person and very less expressive. So its rather difficult to predict his thoughts. He also never talks over phone so if there is not physical proximity then it is quiet difficult to actually know what his thoughts are. I was really moved and touched by his words this time. No words can actually express my love for him and it felt so nice to hear his feelings from him.

ISHA

I was looking for something to help me grow as a human being for a long time (seriously about a year) . I read some books came across some websites and i did really like one of them a lot Steve Pavlina
.This is a fantastic website and I will strongly recommend it for anybody who wants some great and feasible ideas for healthy, good, disciplined and foccused living.

However, steves ideas and thoughts we all more like in the mind level and also some intellectual ideas and needed lot of motivation and determination to manifest and implement. This is quiet difficult to maintian for a longer period of time(atleast for me it was like that).

So my search was still on... (while i was trying to implement some learnings from Steve's blog)

Nov 18th to 23rd 2009 is one of the most brilliant week in my life so far. I was randonmly reading one of my friends blog's Meera's experience
Her experice with ISHA yoga as she mentioned in the blog was somewhat unbelievable but at the same time intriguing. I just came across her post one week before i actually took the program.
I feel and think strongly this is the thing for me.Before i went for the program i had absolutely no other insight other than Meera's blog post. I had to go away from home to Birmingham for a week. As this is not commutable for me i had to look for a accomodation as well. This also means leaving behind my husband. When i was looking for accomodation options with the ISHA volunteers. I was told that i could stay for a week(the duration of the program) with one of the volunteers itself which was perfect for me as i usually prefer home accomodation.

That one week began from Nov 18th to 23rd Nov 2009. My husband dropped me off in the volunteers home and then it was all a very very differnt once in a life time experience for me.

The whole setup , ambience and the way it was all organised was just unbelievable and so much effective. The program was and 3 hrs for 6 days and one full day so total of 7 days. As i also stayed with one of the volunteers who is associated with ISHA for about four years now i had lot of time to think and ponder over about whatever i learnt in the class.
The program is the Inner engineering program where we got initiated to the Shambavi Maha mudra kriya.

The level of calmness and composure i feel inside myself during the program and also after it now is unbelievable. How much i am actually knowing myself and discovering ther inner me is something that one can only experience. I also got to hear lot of the volunteers experience and how much all of them are truely happy in life irrespective of any materialistic pleasures.

Its about 3 weeks now and i have been practising the kriya twice dialy as advised.
Anger, irritation, frustration, dullness, sadness ... these are somethings i have not experienced since i started doing the kriya.
Physical or physiological benefits are ,I have also not had any back pain even if i sit for a long time. I have been able to manage my usual headache without any tablets or irritation. I am active thoughout the day. I find a purpose and fulfillment in doing everything from the very routine tasks like cooking, washing to everything else.

Everyday i am discovering myself more and I have still not completely understood if Sadhguru is my Guru or why and what I am doing but i am very sure that this is the kind of life i want to lead - just accepting life as it is but living every sec to its fullest.

Life is such a beautiful gift and i am glad i have been able to truely realise it.
I cannot thank enough Meera and also all the volunteers and teachers who taught me and have paved way for me for this great experience.


Happiness always...

Nice weekend

I had a very nice weekend after some time i should say. The biggest and most fulfilling thing is that Ram(my hubby) has officially finished his MBA !!!! Hurray !!!!
We went down to his university to submit the project. weather was just terrible with gusty winds and heavy rain. But ram was doing the driving and i was just enjoying myself with songs from Rangeela, OSO, RNBDJ.. wow it was truely fantastic experience.
After submitting the project we went to visit my sister and ofcourse my cute little nephew!!! He was thrilled to see Ram and also moderately thrilled to see me as well!!!!
Had a nice time with him .. and then we thought we will go out to the cinema (leaving behind my BIL and nephew)and watched 'Ajab prem ki Gazhab kahani' which was disappointing, but still it is just so many days since i went to watch a movie with my sister and i suppose it was also a good break for her admist her usual hectic routine life.

Sunday we went to visit a friend who had their little baby girl last month... it was nice to see a cute little baby after quiet some time and then back again to home late eve... but i did enjoy the weekend ...

i am looking forward for something really interesting and special in a couple of days ... shall post about it after i experience it first !!!!

till then take care and enjoy

Paa

I happen to see the promotional vedio and the first poster of the movie Paa, featuring Amitabh, Abishek and Vidya Balan. Highlight of the movie the real father is playing as the son of the real son. Yes Amitabh is playing the role of a 13 yr old boy with a medical condition called 'Progeria'. The effort behind the make up to get the look of a 13-yr old is described in Big B's blog. http://bigb.bigadda.com/ It seems a very tedious and difficult process to have gone through.

The story is a emotional father-son relationship type...

One more thing that stuck me is that the music is by Ilayaraja. His music has the magic to emote effeciently the feelings and thoughts of a human mind. So am quiet eager about that as well.

I just hope the story line is promising enough to do justice to the effort thats gone in making a 67-old look like a 13-yr old...

we will have to wait and i am curious to watch ...

To write or not to write !!!

Why is that although i want to write about many different things i think or experience i get real lazy to actually type.

I am busy, no time etc are all real lame excuses as i somehow find time to read other peoples blogs !!!

Nothing other than my own self can actually urge me to pen down my thoughts or experiences and i will do that as much as possible from now on... I want to take it serious and thats why this blog... (its actually taken many days for me to even write about why i dont write often !!! hahahah ..)

anyway for those who read my blog intentionally or those that read accidentally .. i will try and hope to have something and also keep that something as interesting as possible :)

good day all

Navrathri 2009

I must say i had a very nice navratri this year. I had made 3 steps Kolu and it was quiet a nice one as well. Typically I made sundal everyday, did pooja everyday and had a very nice time.

I even had good number of people(ladies) with little girls visit to share the happiness and festive mood with gifts and vethalai paaku !! A couple of friends also did the singing, which made it nicer.

I did not personally miss being away from india as it felt even more ncier with all good people sharing and enjoying the festive mood and celebration.

Am now awaiting the Diwali celebration day !!

Hope everybody had and also will have a nice festive time.

Iktara

I just heard to this new song 'Iktara' from the movie Wake Up Sid and i really liked it.

Its has a very nice rendering and i really like to hear this song on repeat!!!

Thinking i should watch the movie as well hopefully its not going to disappoint me.

Finally .... a new project at work

I am a kind of person who likes to be busy and loaded with work always. I like to keep doing many different things which will keep me engaged always. However the work culture in UK is not anywhere near to it. It seems very relaxed and lethargic. It always keeps me frustrated as i will never have enough to say its 'lots' for me :(

To add more to the situation the recent recession fever etc made the situation worse. There was hardly anything resonable to do since we were only keen to pass off all he work to team India !!! (Wish i was in India now).
The month of june was pretty tough with announcements about redundancy for many, transfer of all the work down to india etc. So the whole atmosphere at work was too dull and confused. Nobody was aware what will happen next.The project i worked was officcially compeltely handed over to team in India mid of June. So i was just getting all the more frustrated with literally nothing meaningful to do.

Last week, just as an answer to my prayers, I was called to join in a different project. Wow what a relief and joy it was.

Another interesting part is that the team is quiet good in size and is primarily based in Edinburgh,Scotland.which is the head office for us. I am obviously not willing to relocate, but i am still not sure how much travel is expected.

Last week I had been to Edinburgh for just a day. I was quiet impressed with the project and also the visit and the few people i met there.

It was quiet exciting to go to work for a day, the only little difference being comuting via air !!!

My experience about the visit ... to be contd.!!!

My passion....

I have resumed my passion to learn carnatic music.
One thing that i am very very passionate about in life is music. I love to talk,listen,sing,write, read or do anything about music and never feel enough of it.
I use to learn south indian classical when i was in india before marriage.After marriage we came to UK and that came to a stop :( . It was always in my mind to resume when I come back to India. I always use to urge my husband to move back to india just for this one reason.
However after about 5 years, since we have now moved to east london where the asian population is more compared to west(where we were for about 4 yrs), I looked for a music teacher and went to learn from her. That teacher gave me some information that there are people who teach from india via skype. I looked for one since that gives me more flexibility if over internet as time etc can be adjusted to suit my convenience more. I did find one teacher from Trichy and have resumed my long time pending pasion to learn carnatic music from where i left.
As i work from home two days a week, i have fixed one hour on those two days to learn singing. I get immense satisfaction, joy and peace. I also have good time to practice and make it a point i do it regularly.
This is one thing that gives me immense pleasure and joy an hope I will be able to continue this for the rest of my life.

Our own Audi convertable

We drove home a nice black audi A4 convertable home yesterday.!!!

I am very thrilled and excited to travel with it all around ... can't wait for sunny weekends:):)

It was a sad day in one way to part from our old Ford fusion. But we were really excited to drive our new(although second hand) home. We along with my sisters family went to the temple in the morning and then came and picked the new one. My nephew was thrilled when the roof opened and closed at the press of the button !!! So were all of us... My sister and her hubby were also thrilled.

Adithya(my nephew) loves black color, so he was excited to a great extent. He is also travel sick but with this one being more airy with open roof he is again very happy that he will not be sick in car :) he has called the car a 'magic car' coz of the opening and closing of the roof :).
To see his reactions was adding to all our excitment even more :)
To sum it, i must say it was a very good weekend.

It was in my mind to drive in the convertable atleast once before I leave the UK ....and now i am owning one. Thanks to God and my dear hubby !!!
Hope we have lots more good memories to share driving all the roads in UK.

This is the second special and best thing happened in the first six months of this year. !!! Hopefully many more to come :):)

A new friend

What is more pleasing in life than happiness to share and give.

And when thats from a friend whom you love to be with its very rewarding.

This year, just as if to console me, I found a new friend Rekha. I met her in a friends place during diwali celebrations last year. We instantly felt drawn towards each other and we talked so much on that day. We naturally took each others phone number and randomly called each other.

This year, we visited her once and she visited us after that. She has a equally friendly and entertaining husband and two cute daughters who are dolls(specially her little one).

Luckily my husband also found her husband very engaging.They both love cricket and have started playing every weekend. (My husband is all excited about the comeplete cricket costumes etc.. will need a seperate post).

Since we have started visiting temple every saturday, they come there as well. so we hang out in a resturant for late-breakfast-early-lunch sort of thing and then the men head off to play and i end up at rekha's house and chat and chat and chat ...

Its so unwinding and lovely to talk to her and hear her talk as well. we have spoken almost about all topics under the sun... its now like we talk over phone atleast twice a week and mandatorily meet on the saturday's !!!

I have always been lucky when it comes to relationships in life,I thank God for that. But i must say i am particularly lucky with respect to friends. All my friends are a true treasure for me and Rekha undoubtedly is part of the list.

P.S IN her daughters birthday party last week at her house everybody who came assumed that Rekha and I are friends for atleast some years, thats the rapport and level of intimacy we share !!!

This is the first best thing which although began in last year, bloomed into a good friendship this year.

back again ... second time

I am not sure if anybody has even tumbled on my blogs before(not that there were many or anything highly intesting)... but i am back again and this time its here-to-stay kind of come back !!!
its about six mnths since i wrote something. I have been wanting to blog always in that time but somehow couldn't pull myself up.. anyway i am glad i did it now. and i hope this time i will be able to do it for long and also keep it as interesting as possible
six months is quiet a big time when many things happen in life and yes there are many things that has happened in my life as well.
a short list of major events in the past six months..

• to begin the new year with I had my SIL(sister-in-law) and her family with a very naughty little one visit us. It was a very interesting and engaging time with the little one. he is very smart and also fun to hang around with. The happiest was my husband and his sister i guess!!!
• one big mile stone completed in march i.e we celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary. Guess what we spent the day in natural history museum with all dinosaurs and other similar things !!! was fun though .. i think that was the first after a very long time my husband and I spent a day together.
• another milestone in may i am now 30 yrs old !!! which i think is nearly half my life span!!!
  usually our special days will be celebrated very specially but this year strikingly both the occasions were low key.. may be thats the specialitly:)
• from april this year .. not because of any specific reason but may be destined to happen now we have started visiting the temple every saturday .. it really is a very nice feeling and I love it.

Other than these significant events, life in the past six months was usual with home, work and hubby.However there are three most important events or happenings that i would love to share and they are truely special and so i will have a seperate post for each of them!!

untill then enjoy and have fun