vatha kuzhambu - sutta aplam - aanantha vikatan

I stayed in hostel for my entire college life. There were girls who attended the college just for the sake of getting degree and gain better place in the marraige market. For me it was entirely different and i never intended to prepare myself for this MARRAIGE MARKET stuff. Neither i do know cooking nor had the idea of learning it. For me it is an action for survival. That is it. I wanted to do so much but never managed to do. I was too much immersed into my carrier and i forgot that i did have some personal space.

Raj said that i could take a break after marraige and refresh myself. Initially i thought it was not a good idea becoz i had too many ideas about working after maraige. Raj told me about friends over there in US and the activities they do. That made me to think and then i realised that one part of my mind badly longed for a break. Then i decided to give a chance.

Initially i had a doubt how would i spent a whole day MAKING HOME. But well life is somewhat stablised now. no need to get up before 8.30....no need to rush for 8.40 train...no need to send sms to binu or titty for getitng APPY. no need to copy paste the previous day's mail for status report...no text pad...no xl...no meetings...life goes on instead...jus toast some bread...and make milk shake. send Raj to office. come back sit infront of this laptop having coffee [not tht u ve to go ..stand in the queue..or .ask Prathi for getting me coffee..or .ask navi to share half cup...or wait for indira and navi to come back from 1st floor aft taking their so called LEMON tea...no need to scold the smoking ppl for spoiling the fresh air.]. Instead of sitting together and teasing each othr or hearing prathi's alltime mokkai or navi's at times mokkai or indira's each time critical task updates. i will jus read my mails from my frns...chat and dwnload movie. Around 11am...itz my time to cook lunch. He comes by 12.15 and have lunch and start by 1.30. After that i ll have my lunch..again no need to put a combined conversation to all cofee gang members and ask them for lunch...no excuses like..."only one mail..."..."have to go to RR"..."which FC? you gals carry on i ll join ..." etc. Eat my lunch all alone watching History channel...then back to laptop....and then watch the downloaded movies. some times i read book. some clean work i ll do. Evening he comes arnd 6. we have coffee and go for tennis. Back by 9.30 and then cook dinner , eat and watch movie. Gosh, the day is over and well spent.

Suddenly i realised that i m the same as those girls in hostel who attened college jus for the sake of getting a degree. Typical wife-life - all gals out - pot lucks - planned trips - unplanned movies - windows shopping [believe me itz true]. What am i doing? Is this what i ever wanted to? SSSSHHHH....no more thinking....m jus enjoying the time i got. Happy with VATHA KUZHAMBU - SUTTA APLAM - AANANTHA VIKATAN.

Yogurt Rice... steamed cake!

It was Tamil New year... just was thinking what i would normally do on this day...er..going to temple... So we planned to visit the temple.. here which is some 30 mins drive from our home. We went to the temple in the evening.It is basically a vishnu temple. It is located out of the city in the mountains of the near by place called Malibu of Santa monica and drive was good. Temple was very neat and calm. Ulla pona vudanne…antha kovil vaasanai varume – mixture of camphor, oil, viboothi etc. I felt like I was in indian temple but still…!.

The temple has been built as per the building norms in US. It was built around 1984. They say itz been built as per chola’s style…some what I cud relate it – the gopuras and prakaras. Irunthaalum I didn’t get tht feel. Well they perform proper poojas and the shrines are I guess made of pancha ulogam. Not sure about this.

I badly wanted cofee. The temple's canteen also didnt ve coffee. so i setttled down for tea and we bought prasadam. He said only thing available was pongal and yoghurt rice combo. I was blinking wht was that yoghurt rice....athaan namma thair saatham thaan US stylea solraaru thalaivar. He is a tamizh guy only...but was speaking in full broken english. I kept on speaking in Tamizh and this guy was answering in english...namakku kadupaaiduchilla...thamizhaye pesunga anna nu solleten. Athuku avar solraaru...niraya peru varaanga athaana naan confuse ayidrennu [ithayum avar englishla sonnaaru paarunga...sema kaandaaiten pesama sirichuttu vanthuten]. Then we went to his frns house. Anga she made filter cofee for us....so it was COFFEE WITH GEETHA. her name :D :D watched a horror movie and i was too tired to cook.

Raj suggested of going to indian resturant. "Flavours of India" nnu ..anga pona,...steamed cake nu oru item..ennadaannu paatha...ada namma idili nga...but we were too hungry so we orded some naan & parathas packed and came back home. veetla vanthu saapitom. epadi nama thamizh puthaandu celebration. So started adjusting to live in this place settling down with indian memories of actual YOGURT RICE AND STEAMED CAKE~!!

I am fine...doctor!

Well i donno may be being in the new environment ...or due to jet lag... or due to lack of rest...i got sick for some days after i landed US. Sharing my first hospital experience in US.

Got fever & cold. So went to doc. ayoo...inga doc's kekra kelvikku bathil solrathukulla.... maru jenma edukanum... comedya iruku but they are really very careful. the tests n stuffs are very fast...first we have to get the appointment...[emergency casekku ilannu ninaikren]

Receptionla oru questionere kku ans panninen. oru 10 qs irukkum; athula vera...married...etc intha maathiryaana info kudukanum. Smokig - Y/N Drinking - Y/N adeenga...yaara paathu enna kelvi kekra nee...nonsense...irunthaalum vera vazhi ilaama..elaathukum porumaiya ans panninen..namakenna choose the best ans elaam puthusa enna...infyla nirya tests clear paneerkomla...pazhasa marakkalaiye...then they took me to a room...roomukulla room maathiri ore kathava irukungren..onnum purialai...pattikaataan mittai kada rangekku...paathukitte ponen...apram namma oosi podrathuku oru benchla padupome athumaathiri oru tabel athula ukkaathi vachaanga oru akka. banthava steth elaam maatikittu asaalta irunthaanga. she also started asking the same q's. Kadi aayitomla...irunthaalum...namakku thaan question paper out ayiduche..so theliva ans paneetom [ithula vera...US accent...etho kuthu mathippa adi chu vitten..YES or NO thaane;)] apram kathukulla enathoyao nuzhachainga... onnum purialai... edutha piragu solraanga... ''mmm..good... no feverrr" adangokkamakka... namma oorla thermametera naaku adeela vachu...atha oru otharu othari.. evalo stylea paathu soluvaanga... nonsense... kaathukudayaratha vachu... kaaichal paakraangappa... enna kodumai kodumai ;) Then she askd us to wait for some time,..apram thaan Raj sonnaru that she was not doctor.... adangopuraane... appo ithu doc illaya...ayayao.... ennada ooru ithu... yaaru doc' yaaru compoundernnu onnum purialai.

Raj was explaining me that procedures will be like this only coz americans will sue even for su-su matternnu. oh oh apdiya matternnu naanum waitees paneetu irunthen. Then came THE DON..sorry THE DOC. Same questions REPEATUU... then he was asking me some other questions... aha ahaa.. enna fastu enna fastu... namma thalaivar Rajini kitta training eduthirupaaro? naan anga thaan kalangi poiten... apram en iniya thamizh kudimagan...athaanga en kanavaraagiya Raj kai koduthu i mean Vaai kuduthu kaapaathinaaru. my official spokesperson anniku avar thaan. naan only smiling.... romba nerama etho pesinaaru...then only i undrstd "nothign to worry, i will give u tblts for cold , this may be jus a viral infection" . ithaanga summary..aanlum manusan romba pesitaaru...apaadi mudichuthu...pharmacy vanthu maathra vaangittu veedu vanthu serthukulaa...ammadi aathadi...pothumada saami nnu aayiduchu.

The Travel...CHN TO LAX

Chronologically older experience...still fresh in my memories...an archieve of my mails.... the travel to US.


We started off on april 22nd sat nite from Chennai. I was a bit scared about the coming fwd tiresome flight journey and yukkie food they will serve in the flight. Only thing is Raj was there to take care of everything else J .
We screened our luggages and about to checkin. The bad time started…we booked Indian airlines for chn – Singapore travel. And then Cathy Pacific for Singapore – hongkong – LA travel. In CP, max wg allowed is 32 per luggage and a person can check in 2 baggage. IA customs say max 25 only otherwise we have to pay 25$ per piece [adeenga…thamma thudu kadugu packet irukum athuku 25$ pay pannanum…] sema kaandaaitom. Now we have to remove 5 kgs from each luggage. Luckily we have asked our family to come inside and so we removed the items [including my precious bajji-bonda maavu mix L ]. Ithula vera oru packet got opened and airport floor got covered with paruppu. Sema comedy. The funniest and worst part is…ppl that we have never met in our life were conveying their regrets , consoling us and gosh…advices..advices from all directions…errrrrr…pongayya velaya paathuttunnu kathanum pola irunthuchu. Then aft that we had to scan the baggage again. There was some problem with the machine that will tie the suitcases after scan. Athuku security was scolding us..…“next time bring luggage with proper weight and don’t waste our time and time of other passengers too“. Naan poda panni nnu manasukkula soleetu vanthuten. Then onwards things went very smooth until we were seated in the plane.
It was Indian airlines and I really don’t wanna say but our deluxe buses are better than that flight. Old seat covers…head phones were not working. Raj asked for another set and to our irritation, it was broken. Sarinnu oru vazhiya padam paaka aarambicha it was Satham Podaathe movie. Then started the actual comedy. There was a guy seated in the adjacent row. Started asking Raj for guidance…first he asked how to watch the movie. Raj plugged his the headphones properly and turned back. After some 10 mins he called us again and said…like it is coming in hindi. Ada paavi 10 nimishama therialaiya athu tamizh illannu ninachukittom. Then ennadaannu paatha…channel tune pannalai. May be he doesn’t knw it anaa..athukaaga 10 nimishama hindiya kettu apram soli irukka venaam. J . Finally we landed in Singapore.
I was damn tired and sleepy. Our next flight was due in 4 hrs. Thought of taking room and then abandoned that idea…we refreshed and my longing for a good coffee started from here. He bought me a coffee but not southindian. I didn’t like it but at that time it was good for me J We jus roamed around taking some snaps etc. Then it was time for us to check in again for hongkong flight. This time it was in Cathy Pacific. When we were standing in the queue…there was a guy who was chkg our passports and stuffs. His name was written as Arumugam. [Raj dad’s name is also the same]. I was trying to tell this to Raj and that guy noticed that and said to me “I knw what u are noticing” ahaa…bulbu aayiduchu. I smiled and went ahead. Avamaanama pochu J I think he was a tamizh guy. After this enakku romba pasika aarambichuduchu. Long live my relatives. Some one bought us some sweets and I had taken it in my cabin luggage. So atha saapiten.
Now the date was 23rd March, Sunday. Finally we were seated and this time the flight was better. Perhaps too tired to notice anything. Since my tickets were booked through his office finance dept, they didn’t specify anyting about my food. L so we couldn’t get Indian vegetarian. Luckily he preferred the same when he booked his tickets, we jus swapped our food. It was some fried rice, paratha, potato curry and usual fruits , sweet and salads. His food was some asian veg. I don’t rembr the items but he didn’t finish it . athu mattum nyabagam irukku, we shared mine. Thatz all I rember. I watched an English movie and slept off. He woke me up as we reached HKG.
We got some 3 hrs for check in. Again we spent some time in roaming around and the airport was very nice. I was very much-scared abt the 13 hrs flight journey. L and had severe head ache. Then the announcement came for our flight. Again the same cathy pacific. He wanted to join the queue immediately. Queue a bit long so I said we would join in the last. But suddenly we realized that the queue is growing like anything. Poi paatha…avalo persu. We walked for some 3 mins to find the end of the queue. Our passports were checked while we were standing in the queue quite far behind the gate. The weather was good and not too sunny for that Sunday. This time the flight was too crowded and the seats were not better than our Volvo bus seats. It was a bit congested for us. L I tried watching some movies but got severe head ache and ears started paining due to altitude. It was horrible and I wished I could go back to India. L Then I started sleeping. Raj used to woke me up for food and refreshment . Thatz all I rembr abt tht journey. Finally when I woke up it was 2hrs to reach. I jus watched part of om shanthi om and started thinking like…how my life will be? Would I be able to adjust there…when will I go back to India…etc. was very mood out and upset. This stupid head ache…and it was jus 10 mins to land, I felt very nauseating and about to vomit. It was then Raj asked me to look out the window…yup..i reached California !!! And it was Los Angeles airport. The first sight of the airport I didn’t like it. It was too dry and unfortunately it was very sunny on that day.
In the immigration check, there was nothing much formalities. Verified his documents and asked him few usual questions and thatz all. Basically ennai koncham kooda mathikalai. Anyways pozhachu pogattum USA. ;) We collected our baggage and came out of the airport waiting for his frns. I was jus watching around , the system was very neat but still I didn’t like it. J Poor Raj!!!. Then came his frns and it was some 20 mins drive. He said that we were traveling thru freeway ..enna way o enakku enna puriyum…elame greek n latinaa irunthuchu.
Etho HI-FI la poganum apdi ipdeenaanga..athu etho special driving polannu ninachutten apram thaan therinchuthu athu I-5 [Interstate -5 road number]. Athu kooda paravala…etho one –O- one nnu soleetu irunthaanga..ennada ithu pongal - O – pongal maathiri irukennu yoischa ada namma one-NOT-one athaanga one hundred and one number solikittu irukaainga…apram thaan I realised oh oh…namma US of A la irukomnu. He heee… Apram, Inniku romba traffic apdeennu soleetu irunthaanga. Ada paaveengala ithelaam traficna appo namma Chennai guindyla irukratha elaam enna soluvaainga? Anyways I slept again :D oru vazhiya we reached home. And it was March 23rd Sunday evening. Crossed 4 time zones and traveled around almost half of the globe. Jus cant imagine...

Home Sweet Home

Peace - that was the other name for home

- someone.

Coming from an economicaly not-so-good background, building a spacious house and making it a sweet home has always been a dream for me.

I remember my very first home - where i born and spent my infant days. It was a single room house with roof of hay and bamboo. The kitchen is an open space with two small mud stoves and a wooden rack to keep the cooking items. I remember the cool mud floor, the banana trees along with jasmine and rose plants. That was my fantasy house during my child hood days...banana trees were the walls with jasmine roofs. I spent most of my day in that shade playing with small mud toys. I used a pile of small stones to mark my rooms and interiors. The toys were my inmates and lived in an imaginary house were at times my grand ma would join me to live there :)

As i grew, so did our financial status and we demolished that mud house and build a small house with an open first floor. But my fantasy house become our backward garden where me and my father used to spend lots of time hearing stories of his childhood...naming the flowers and looking for butterflies. The open floor used to be my study room where my father fixed a small bulb for me to study at nights and my brother used to fix me a temperory wool tent to avoid the winter. It used be lovely to spend the night - in an open space with sky as my roof. It will be good to watch the sky at night with gently breeze humming and distant coconut trees dancing...!!! Those stars and trees knew my deepest wishes and wildest dreams.

Then after schooling i went away from my house to stay in hostel. The more i got exposed to the external world, the more my dreams have got widened. I was so absorbed into the materialistic world i begun think about my career, my future etc. In that, the dream of house has got hidden somewhere. I started traveling in the direction of time and become more focused.

Then my life has become a journey in a roller coaster...ups and downs...twists and turns and i changed and statisfied myself in accomplishing short term goals and no more dreams. After i landed in my dream company, i felt my journey has come to a smooth stream.

One day my friend invited me to her house for a weekend. I went there with the hope of spending a weekend with good sleep, good food and good shows. When i opened the gate of her house, the first thing striked was the roof with jasmine [it was season] , a lemon tree and few other plants. It was friday evening with gentle breeze. I remembered my infant days and fantasy house. The deep down memories started surfacing, i started thinking about my childhood dream of building a house...

I thought that i could buy a house of my taste near the place i worked but after some analysis i found that building or buying a house in that place is not possible and i would never get the peace and then i decided that i would built an house in my hometown which has too many memories for me to cherish my wholelife time.

And then there were too many occasions where i had to convince my parents , my grandma and my well wishers. Initially they thought that the idea was not a good one. They didnt want me to get loan for building the house and i was begining to lose the hope of a house for my parents.

Then suddenly one day, my grandma accepted and then it was not that difficult for me to convince my parents. After that everything came handy...luckily we got a land...and loan was approved immediately...thanks to Finacle & infy. Then started the project...we found a good constructor and i was there almost every month to see our house growing.

I was crazy enuf to take pictures whenever i go there...so tht it ll be part of my stored memories...i remember watching sun set standing on the top of the concrete...the wet floors shining due to the reflection...i remember showing the plan to all my frns...talking about it almost at every coffee time in office hours...though i spent very little time during the construction...but each and every day was a step closer to my dream come true.

Ofcourse there were many conflicts wrt chosing the flooring type...door design. And thanks to my dear brother...he took charge of everything...and saw the way i wanted to see and chose everything. He is the back bone of that design and look. As the house was in almost completed stage...my maraige got fixed...and i am supposed to leave to US as soon as my maraige got over.

The final days were really tough...emotionaly...physically we all were exhausted. The day i left the house...it was not completely finished...yet some patch work has been required...i was not there for the house warming ceremony...i was not there for painting...i was not there for flooring....but i m there...in each and every inch of that house.

Now the work is over...my parents are living there to make it a sweet home...and i m thousands of miles away from my home...waiting for the day that i wud step into my dream ...