Rhythm of Life

Oh, what a year it was!! Full of surprises and uncertainties. Many plans that didn't fall into place, and many things that life planned for us. But I am grateful to God for He enabled us to see the blessings in disguise everywhere.  The year began unusual, as there was no New Year/birthday party at home since most friends were out of town and I wasn't well. But thanks to Vanshi-Chandana who came over and clicked some lovely pictures of cake cutting for my first birthday with Pari!! Then our long-awaited vacations trip to Florida canceled unexpectedly due to flight delays and missed connections, but felt thankful that God kept us safe and snuggled in our home with a snow resort kind of vacation.  My firm belief in life being smarter than us gets reinforced, when I think in retrospect, how we decided to spend our sabbatical and bonding leaves at India leaving all our previous plans of the world tour, Europe, and Australia vacations aside. We didn't know then that

I and my husband just ran in the Turkey Trot 2017 5K/10K run. The registration fees were $48 per person. Spending about a $100 for a couple just for a run didn't make complete sense at first. But a close friend got us a 50% discount and we registered. Back in my mind though, I was curious what motivates people to attend such events, where you pay a decent amount to participate, then you go early, struggle with the parking etc, just to run 3 miles. Wouldn't you be better off running in your neighborhood, for free and at the time of the day that you like? Well, if that time comes ever is the first question for many people. That discipline can be brought in if desired or if you pay for the running. Health is the highest reward in life!! Thousands of people decide to pay for the registration and wake up early in the morning of a long weekend to come to the 5K/10K run not just for charity but for their health. They can make donations to their favorite charity anytime anywhere

Today was not an ordinary school day, it was a field trip day!! We were going to see the Monarch Butterflies!!! I was very excited that my mom was coming to the field trip with me. It took 1.5 hours to get to the Santa Cruz beach by bus. The ride was boring because the bus rules said: "no playing". After we got there we came to know it was really fun!! There was a nice beach with lots of sand to play in.  My friends Ivy and David were in my group that was led by Vinita, my mom. First, we attended an interesting presentation on the Monarch Butterflies, that was full of a lot of 'M' words. The metamorphosis of the Monarch butterflies starts with their migration from south to north for mating after which they lay eggs on a milkweed leaf. The egg hatches into the caterpillar that feeds on its eggshell and the milkweed leaf, after which it outgrows its skin and molts about 4 times before hanging into a letter 'J' shape and turns into Chrysalis out of which eme

It has been over a month now in the Bay. The life is going crazy. We are trying to get settled amidst too many unknowns and uncertainties, and at least for me, dealing with too many emotions at the same time. We moved to the temp housing - Xander's and Tanya's Home. I met them to get the keys, the night before our move it. I could sense how they felt, as life was taking them away from their home sweet home just like it took us away from ours. I assured them that we will try to take good care of their home while we are there. The house is very beautifully furnished and is very conveniently located in the Rivermark community, where it takes 3 minutes to walk to Avi's school, park, library or swimming pool. My office is less than 10 minutes drive and Gaurav's shuttle to google comes right outside the doors. Although he has to spend anywhere between 1-1.5 hours to come back home in the evening from Mountain View to Santa Clara. We managed to keep up with the festive tr

It has been a week since we moved to the Silicon Valley. We are living in the Residence Inn Marriott in Sunnyvale. It felt weird at first when we arrived, as the penthouse two-bedroom suite was nothing like what we had pictured in our minds while reserving it from our "mansion" in Hillsboro. It lacked the sheer space our kids are used to of playing in and roaming around while at the house. I kept missing the tall windows around the home and the greenery of the park and the backyard that my eyes were so used to seeing at every moment while being at home. Where have we come?? and why?? have been the constant questions in my brain. Avi's first day in 2nd grade!! Well, take it easy, it is still the settling up phase. You are in a hotel, so consider it your vacation. Enjoy good food that Bay Area has to offer. Amazing Indian restaurants, our first week, we ate at Chaat Bhavan (good food but fingers turned yellow and remained so even after washing with soap), Mirch Masala

It feels like just yesterday, when two freshly minted graduates from UT Austin, landed in this exquisite place in the gorgeous summers of 2009. I instantly fell in love with this beautiful small city of Hillsboro, and my heart used to sing the Bollywood song, "Ye hansi vaadiyan ye khula aasma,  aa gaye hum kaha aye mere saajna...".  We took just a couple of days to set up our elegant newly built Nexus apartment before joining Intel and becoming one of the many Intel couples who we later met in and around the area. Then the life began with many firsts coming our way one after the other. Buying our first car, the Honda Accord coupe , literally 10 days before we came to know that we have started on the journey of becoming parents to our first child. Striving to find a house to buy before the child arrives. Finding our perfect home sweet home, raising our budget by a $100K to get this corner house in the Village at Orenco community, right next to the park, a perfect siz