Awwwsome Tamalpais

I don’t know if it’s just me or if there are tons of people like me on earth who get frequent bouts of confusion on planning the weekend. We were always able to come up with something during major chunks of last year and it was all worthwhile. Every camping trip, hike, gambling @ the casinos, going to shows, clubbing and pubbing… every freakin’ thing was (in a supremely high pitched voice) Awwwsome! Of course, things would be awwwsome in that insanely amazing voice if only there were ideas that flowed around like free air.

There it was before we knew it had happened, we were stuck. Out of ideas. Had no clue what to do. Spent a LOT of weekends ( Sooo many that I can’t even count!) doing NOTHING. Not that that’s any inferior. The art of sleeping loooong hours on a Saturday morning or a Sunday is bliss better than the so-called heaven. So anyway, we were out of ideas on how to spend our weekends. We had visited relatives, friends, gone clubbing and pubbing, visited an awesome place and with camping that will start only around May or June, we had nothing else to think of.

Suddenly… Eureka! I realized that a lot of our sightseeing was majjjorly done around the bay area but never in here. Google I did and voila! there it was. A website that had a page long description of the hikes in Mount Tamalpais in Tamalpais Valley just a few miles north of SF.

Tamalpais is so serenely beautiful and less crowded compared to the nearby attractions – Muir Woods and Stinson Beach. We took the easy 1 mile walk and the diamond-in-the-rough 20 min hike right to the top of Mount Tamalpais. The drive up to Tamalpais Valley is needless to say, breathtaking with beautiful views of mountains, lakes, the golden gate bridge and plenty of tiny waterfalls. Once we reached the parking lot of the Mount Tamalpais East Peak, there was a gust of fresh mountain air, so unpolluted and clear.

The Mount Tamalpais East Peak is divided into 2 parts. One with a paved path that makes up for almost a mile’s walk loop leading back to the parking lot and second, a rough climb up that takes about 20 mins to reach the east peak of Mount Tamalpais. The 1 mile walk was super easy to complete as opposed to its sister and offered brilliant views of the golden gate bridge, bay bridge, the waters in between and the gazillion skyscrapers of SF Downtown. The 2nd path does not offer too many views as you go but gives you everything the 1 mile path gives you once you are at the top – a 360 deg view of Mount Tamalpais.

Anyone interested in hiking in the bay area, visit www.weekendsherpa.com.

Long time pending!

Something I’ve been meaning to do for a very long time. To blog.

Ever since December 2010, it has been one hell of a rollercoaster ride with gazillion things racing past, flipping the pages of my life so fast, making it hard to decide where to start. Well this particular phase of the on-going journey has been quite interesting. So many events, emotions, places…. And a new lease of life. Where one day I was living with a steady job (one that I loved absolutely) and then the next I’m calling another place my home and the people in it my parents. Weird, weird… Just weird. I’m definitely not going to be all sugary and honey-coated in saying I loved and looked forward to and welcomed the change. I  enjoyed the change despite all the terrible, mixed and earth-quakey confusions that were bustling inside my head just before the wedding. Despite the horrible horrible encounters with probably and possibly the most lethargic government office in India. Despite the many postponed departure dates. Yes, I loved it all. And now am as dandy and happy as I can be with huge surprises in a country I thought I could never love.

If you have been following my blog over the past 6 months, you would have known that there were multiple posts reiterating the same fact that I was confused, afraid and loose motion-ish about getting married and moving in with him. However adorable that person may be, I was petrified about the upcoming change that at the time I feared, the change would flip out my lifestyle drastically. And now can happily say that I’m happy and finding it all just the same.

December was a super duper month. It came with all the things I was looking forward to and also had things I really found difficult to face. December brought Rat and Ram to India. The couple came towards the end of December as my Christmas gift. And made it very difficult for me to concentrate on work. I bet my boss must have been unhappy about the sudden diversion of focus even though she was happy about the wedding. Quitting that job which was dear to my heart was quite sad. I miss my other family @ Randstad. This was probably the most difficult thing I had to face besides the difficult step of leaving my parents to be with someone new (even though we had spent 6 solid months on Skype every single day, living with that someone is definitely something new) and in a new place (one that I almost hated with all my heart).

However this did not stop all the wedding fun. Our family had cousins and relatives flying to India for the wedding. People within and outside. People excitedly shopping for the wedding … possibly more than the bride or groom-to-be were able to. There were so many get togethers. So many photo sessions. Sweets. Innumerable outings. That month was absolutely rocking. And then came January which was the icing on the cake. If December was the pre-wedding fun time, Jan was the main wedding fun period – for the main reason that Kar returned. I met him after 6 solid months. 6 months of emotional dehydration. It felt like water in the middle of the desert. I was soooooooooo happy to see him again. Besides that, January was booked with so many appointments to meet people, meet tailors, meet caterers and then there was shopping and shopping and shopping. And then we dropped! Everyone was super ecstatic. Me and the Kiwis still managed to make time for a game of carrom or cards or places every single day without fail. I even squeezed time for the usual chit chat with my angry bird.

Some of the reasons why I loved my wedding (other than the obvious reason that it was my wedding)…. I loved it for its simplicity among all the grandeur. Loved it for the fact that there were so many round table aratai arangams that happened even at the nick of Muhurtham (even though I missed being a part of it and was infront of the wedding fire)… Loved it for the out-of-the-way enthusiasm sported by the regular guys and then the unexpected and unusual ones…. Loved it for a bit of drama like every other wedding in the midst of all happiness… And then for the well-ventilated Ethiraj Kalyana Mandapam which has the whole family wedding feel to it rather than a commercialized one. And oh yes, the final Kumi dance which I think we all loved.

The day prior to the wedding was total fun … I was made up, decked up like a plastic doll…. The make up was like a thick layer of strawberry-raspberry-plum cake on my face and the blouses stitched for the previous day’s engagement was gawky and snapped at a place which was luckily concealable. Thanks to the over decorated Jadai ( which I cursed up until that point). After the engagement was the namaskaram sessions which was forced upon us by many elders of both families in a cheeky fashion… Despite the heavy load of whatever (rice maybe, pulses maybe, flowers maybe, fruits maybe)…. Despite that and the garlands which were supposed to be light added on to the weight because of the load tied to the saree in the front. We had fun! The food, needless to say, Chellappa always rocked. I don’t think there is any other caterer in Chennai who can churn menus that are so wholesome, nutritious and tasty than Chellappa’s. His people are also very friendly attending to our every need. So basically everything about the wedding was phenomenal. A moment I will remember for a lifetime and one I’m sure to make a story to tell for the generations to come. The wedding went off in a beautiful flash. Everyone was happy at the end of the day and there were a lot of comments on the grandeur of the wedding.

The wedding was followed by a series of trips starting from the honeymoon at God’s own country, Kerala to many small towns in the heart of Tamil Nadu (Chidambaram, Kar’s native village – Kumaratchi and many others) and a small trip to the Yelagiri Hills as a surprise to Kar’s parents on their wedding anniversary. These days are truly unforgettable. The honeymoon helped me bond with Kar and of course the bulk of the catching up and 6 months of emotional logging that was cleared. The Yelagiri Hills was a pleasant surprise and it definitely helped me bond with his family and feel happy amidst their warmth and friendliness. The small towns trips was a huge bonding for both families and helped me touch base with my religion. I felt calm and composed throughout. I also loved visiting his native village. Felt more closer to him after learning about their way of life back then when they lived in the village and how Kar’s love for potato curry (the way his grandmother makes) began as a child.

Following these wonderful days was the biggest bombshell ever. My visa was approved after which my passport got rejected owing to a small piece of plastic peeling off. That just sucked and began a series of events I can never ever forget. It brought into light the harsh reality that the old lethargic government offices still do exist. That our government officials are not entirely changed and responsible. That there are still offices which underpay their employees. Which are under equipped. Which suck the living life out of everyone! Trust me on this. I went from heaven to hell in a short span of 20 days  – delayed to leave the country by 10 days which in turn delayed Kar’s rejoining of work by ten. The emotional trauma of when I would receive my passport only to find that the papers were in the exact same place we had left them. Sick of hearing the same old shit “You will receive it 2 days”. Sick of sending millions of smses to the passport office website only to receive “Not processed” or “Under process”. We understood why bribery breeds heavily in our country. That is the only way as long there are fucked up government offices like the passport office where corruption is the rule for all. So after a lot of haggling with various officials on what we deserved to get, I received my passport only to be told by my super duper sub-urban postoffice that they were closed for an extra 2 days due to a religious festival and that it would take 2 days to transfer an envelope from one freaking post office to the next office which is about less than a km away. So after a lot of running around here and there we went to the immigration only to be told that they would be closed for 4 solid days – one for president’s day and one for admin day (whatever that is) and two for the weekend in between. By now I was sapped off all energy, confidence, life, happiness and was filled with hatred and dejection beyond anything tough I have faced, feeling absolutely cheated.  I received the visa after many postponed departure dates ( so many in the hope that we would get the visa stamped and sent soon).

We landed in Sunnyvale after rushed goodbyes on the 25th of February. Surprisingly, this place reminds me a lot of Auckland except for the blue blue New Zealand blue skies and short buildings. Funny I am actually enjoying life even though there is too much concrete around. Must be the hills surrounding the area that gives it the scenic touch… Whatever it is that I am experiencing, it has been so far so good. There is still lots more to put down. Think I will space it out and put them down in the next one. Until then, adios!

 

 

 

The English Rose

Back in the Anna Nagar days, we loved visiting our grandparents (mom’s parents specifically) during weekends. Savi thatha’s place was always like a candy house to all of us as we were stuffed with icecreams, chocolates, sugar candies, indian sweets and basically the bunch of us were dipped in anything sweet.

It was also fun to be there coz we loved rummaging through thatha and paati’s stuff. They visited a lot of foreign countries and brought back goods from abroad that fascinated us immensely. To name a few evergreen products, there was always some gillette tube from US and then the Yardley soaps and talcum powders from Europe and milk powders from all over the world. These were absolutely interesting as they were completely new to the kids and were basically products that adults always shoved away from us.

Recently, my dad got me a Yardley soap for old times sake. Yardley English Rose – Savon de luxe. It seems like yesterday that we were given Yardley bars to bathe in whenever we were at Savi thatha’s place. Janaki paati always used the Yardley English Rose much before Camay and the rest of the foreign soap gumbal made their space in the popular foreign goods section.

 

This is a fragrance I can always associate with Paati. She smelled great. There were times we would call her the English Paati not because she was fair…. but because of her need to be polite and in the best of behaviour. Funny how some products always remain etched in your memories…. and even if you don’t think about some people too often, these memories are tightly wrapped in some corner of your brain so that products like the English Rose remind you of the good old times. Miss you Janaki Paati, my English Rose.

62nd is on its way…

On April 11, 2010 – We celebrated Dad’s birthday. This year was a memorable birthday for Dad as Mom had planned something extraordinary and unique to make his 61st year a memorable one.

* Picture is a bit hazy cos’ it was taken in Skype – COURTESY: Rathi Ramamoorthy*

Her idea : 60 gifts for the 60 years.

Pretty awesome, eh?

We got him a nice blackcurrant vanilla cake (which btw, was super yummy *mouth drools*) and planned a surprise visit by Kala Raja anddddddddd got Rathi and Ram to come on Skype so we could celebrate Dad’s birthday virtually as well.

With super cool decorations and mind blowing 60 presents, Dad’s birthday was the most sweetest and coolest of all!

Here’s a picture of the super yummy cake!