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Living with Equanimity

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 Last month, my husband, decided that he was going to go to the Burning Man festival. This was his first time going there, and having not experienced such an event myself, I went through my own phases of first denial, then anxiety upon reading a lot about this event and watching umpteen number of videos. Ultimately, despite being worried about his health and well being while he is out there, I accepted that if he does want to do it, I want to rather support him in his choice than to fight him or try to persuade him to not go.  I helped ensure he got all that he will need while he is there, and prayed time and again for his wellness and safety while he is there. He was gone for almost 15 days, and I had to manage my office work, kids classes, back to school nights, chauffeuring to extracurriculars, homework helps, cooking, house chores, and my own community engagements, keynote and speaking commitments all by myself during these 2 long weeks. And doing all that while being super anxious
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Guns and Guts

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  Unable to fully comprehend the headline on today's WSJ main page, my kindergartner at the breakfast table this morning asked, "who killed the children and the teacher?" And then the rest of the questions were bombarded. "Why did he kill them"? "How did he get the gun"? "Who gave it to him"? She quickly realized that I did not have any convincing answers for her, so she concluded, "how peaceful and happy life would have been if that person didn't kill the children and the teachers".  My heart goes out to those mothers and fathers, who so lovingly would have gotten their children ready for school, packed their lunch boxes, and dropped them at school yesterday morning. If only they knew, they may not be able to see the little pieces of their hearts smile again, they would have done something differently!! Can we please stop this madness once and forever?? I do not understand what is wrong with this country!! Why can we not stop t
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Bye Bye 2017 - A Roller Coaster Year of our Life!!

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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
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Five reasons why you should Turkey Trot

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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
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The field Trip to Santa Cruz : Monarch Madness

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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
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Bay Area Diaries - Month 1

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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
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Bay Area Diaries - Week 1

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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
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