Alyce Wish you a very happy Married Life.- From Everyone in our family
I hope everyone is enjoying Alyce Wedding.
Alyce Wish you a very happy Married Life.- From Everyone in our family
I hope everyone is enjoying Alyce Wedding.
Shoba, you are a real champ in my book for helping Avanthika with all those activities. I don't know how she keeps up with it all! I think she will be a super star in whatever field she pursues. Did she tell me she wanted to be an architect? I won't soon forget the lovely singing and dance she did for us when we were there. It looks like she works very hard at all her activities.
Raji, good to hear from you:) Are you ready to get out of hot, sweltering Delhi and come to the cool (by comparison) U.S.? We would be so happy for you to come and stay with us for a while. I'm sure Raju would have you helping him in some way with his business. He puts the kids and me to work. We really enjoy being a part of what Daddy is doing. The boys got shirts with the company logo on it and they are proudly wearing them. They mostly just empty the dust bins, but they are hardworking, proud members of Daddy's team.
Raju is traveling this week. The boys think he has a very glamorous job. From their perspective, he gets to fly on airplanes whenever he wants, he sleeps in nice hotels with pools, and eats at the restaurants of his choice. Of course, from Raju's perspective, he has to fly on crowded planes at odd hours of the day and night, misses his own bed, and eats terrible food, and misses his family. But I must say he loves his work and is happy to provide for his family.
I am going to work on putting a slide show of our pictures from India into the blog, so you can all see them. My friend has done it and I will get her to help me tomorrow.
I haven't heard from Rama. Did she and Akshaya go back to India for summer break? How is Subha doing and Lakshmi, and Aishwarya, and Sujatha and all the children? We would love to hear from all the rest.
Love from all of us:)
Dana, Raju, Sanjay, And Vijay
From shoba Hai Dana and everybody. It was nice to see your blog Dana after a long gap of about 6 months. Things are going fine here. Avanthika's school has reopened and the classes are going on in full swing. It is a big jump for her from the 4th to the 5th class. Till now she was only graded according to her performance in all subjects. This year onwards they will be ranked according to their performance. She has to really work hard to stay at the top and she is doing it as well. Her first monthly tests are starting tomorrow. She participated in the solo singing competition in school. We will know the results tomorrow. She will also be giving a dance performance, through her dance school on the 12th of July. Daily practice for the same is going on. We are juggling betwen home, school and other classes. It is very hectic but interesting. Right now she is waiting for Raja to take her to the club for her routine weekly swim. Days are very hot here with no sign of the end of summer. We are very happy to hear about Alyce. Our wishes and love are always with her. Convey our special wishes and prayers to her and your sister. I can imagine how excited and busy you are going to be for the next 2 months. Take care and convey our love to Raju and the kids. Raji, It must be still very hot there I suppose. Take care and keep us informed about your next visit. Bye for now. |
Hi Everyone,
I am back from a long hiatus! Today is the last day of the school year and we are cleaning up our classroom and resetting it for next year! We are all elated and I am thrilled to finally have a minute to write on the blog. Thank you Shoba and Raji for keeping it up. I appologize for not remaining faithful. My busy schedule ( and I know you all have busy schedules as well) has kept me from the blog. But now on to my update:
Sanjay has completed 5th standard. He was able to begin working on 6th standard literature, so he will have a headstart next year. Vijay has finished 2nd standard and has a line up of books he is going to read during summer holiday. As usual at the end of each school year I make a list of tasks to be done during the summer. It usually starts with cleaning out all the closets in the house. We get too busy to keep them cleaned out and organized. Next I will tackle the boys' toy cupboard and school room. I will be packing up and sending back all the text books and other materials that the school sent me, so I can make room for next years' books and materials. The list I made is 5 pages long so I can go on and on about my projects for the summer.
We do have some other exciting news. Alyce is getting married on August 22, 2009. We are very excited. Her fiance has one more class to take to finish his degree in chemistry. He will be able to teach high school Chemistry, but right now he is working in the Laboratory for Raju. Is anyone able to come over for the wedding? We would love to have you! My sister's oldest son has graduated from college this month. He is in the military and will be going for some special leadership training this summer. Shelby is just looking forward to swimming all summer long. Asa is l6 and he is looking for a summer job. That is the update on Kimm's family.
Raju's business is going very well. He has hired several more employees. He is so busy that he is working very long hours. He has just hired an accountant and another project manager. Once he has them trained I hope he can relax a little bit. Over the next 2 months he has a lot of traveling to do and a lot of technical work to do.
Raju and I went to Florida for a few days in May. It was so nice to be in warm weather. It has been cold and rainy here all month. I was able to plant my flowers on my patio. I have red hibiscus plants and pink, orange, and red impatients. Every spring I eagerly anticipate planting my flowers. I am unable to have a garden at the house where we live now because of all the trees. There is not one fully sunny spot in our whole yard. I tried to grow tomatoes in a spot I thought was sunny. It was sunny, but as soon as the tomatoes were large, pale green, and ready to turn red, the sun shifted and my tomato plants were shaded. Only a few of the tomatoes ripened. I was so disappointed. My mother has put a few extra tomato plants in her garden for me. My parents are doing well. My mother still has a lot of pain in her leg, but other than that she is in great health. My father also is doing well. I can hardly believe he will be 69 this year. He is still working a full day, every day. My brother's business has been hit hard by the significant slow down in the real estate market in California. His business is serviving but barely. We are praying for him and his family a lot. That is the update on my family. I will try to think of a few fun things we have done since I last blogged and write again soon. Our love to all the family. We miss you all and can't wait until we see you again.
Dana
From shoba Hai all of you! Hope all of you are fine. It is a long time since I wrote something here. Avanthika and me went to cbe for the holidays and were back in may. Her school reopens on the 3rd of june. We are all set to begin the new academic year. Raji, it is nice to see that you are the only one who is posting details on the blog. Keep going and take care. Bye for now. |
From shoba, Hello everybody! It is quiet some time since I posted something here. Last saturday (14.3.09)Avanthika's school celebrated an evening of music and dance. She was there in a group song and a group dance, both Tamil folk numbers. Her annual exams are starting on the 23rd of march and will be over on the 7th of april. However her school will close only on the 13th of april for the summer vacation. The last week was a little pleasant with the temperature coming down by 2 to 3 degrees. All of us are fine here. Looks like Raja will be travelling a lot in the coming months as he has taken up 2 or 3 new projects. We are waiting eagerly for the summer vacation when we can be free from the boring routine of school, homework, tests, assignments, etc. Bye for now. Take care all of you. |
From Shoba Hello everyone! Hope all of you are fine. I did not find many postings and that disappointed me. Any way the past weekend was very busy. On friday Avanthika had the 'Science Alive' programme in school as 28th feb is always celebrated as National Science Day in India. I had been to her school to see all the experiments presented by the children. It was so surprising and exciting to see the many many simple but interesting experiments being demonstated by the children. The whole school was decorated with posters and charts of all the famous scientists. Avanthika and her friend showed the working of the Solar Clock. The next day (saturday) , Avanthika was taken through her school's art club to the Lalit Kala Academy to view an exhibition of the art works done by very famous artists. She was back by 12.30pm. After lunch we had to rush for the music performance in our colony's community hall. We reached there by 2.40pm. The programme started by 3.00pm and went on till 6.00pm. In all about 50 children in the age group of 5 to 15 sang many many songs both individually and as groups. Avanthika sang 3 songs. In between we were served with hot coffee, sundal, kesari and fruit salad( all the arrangements both at the hall and food were done by her music teacher with funds contributed by all the students). Raja reached chennai only at 12.30pm on that day because of his flight delay but was lucky enough to reach in time for the programme. The whole evening was a feast for the ears and mouth. The next day (sunday - lazy day, as I always call it) started late. I made pooris and subzi for lunch. In the evening we went for the bharathanatyam arangetram(it is the first solo performance that any student gives after they reach certain level in dance) of one of the senior students in Avanthika's dance school. It was a 3 hours programme and the dancer did extremely well. When we came out of the hall it was almost 9.30pm. We had hot hot chilly bajji and soup as a starter to finish off the dinner at home. So though it was very hectic it was always fun to do different things. The days have become hotter here in chennai. Avanthika is busy with her school work as her annual exams are likely to begin by the end of this month. Thats it for now. Will catch up with all the details later. Bye and take care all of you. |
From Shoba Hello everybody! It is almost a week since I opened the blog. I am surprised to see only one posting of Akshaya. What happened? Looks like everybody is either busy or may be the thrill of blogging is over. Let us keep connected. So please keep posting atleast once a week. What happened to you Dana? It is almost a month since we have heard from you. Please keep us updated about all that is happening there. Hope all of you are fine. Yesterday we had a programme in our club to celebrate A.R.Rahman's nomination into the Oscars. All the lovely hits of A.R.Rahman were played. We met many of our friends there, had dinner and enjoyed the evening very much. Bye, see you all soon and expecting to see some new posts. |
From Shoba, Hai! It was a lovely weekend. Saturday was valentine's day and there were some special programmes in our club. We left home at 7.30pm and went to the club. There were many games for the children and adults like musical chair, paperdance(you dance standing on a sheet of paper,when the music stops you fold the paper and put both your feet on it. This goes on until the paper is about the size of your palm and the person who can fit his /her leg into it is the winner), lucky dip, elimination square( everybody dances in four squares, when the music stops one square is eliminated, this goes on until we have the winner.) etc. Avanthika participated in all the games but she was not lucky enough to win any thing. We had some exotic food for dinner and then the dance floor was open for all of them. Avanthika joined her friends in the dance and went on till about 11.00pm. I was shivering sitting in the open lawn till so late. (I realised that though the days were hot the nights were still very chill). We reached home and went off to sleep at 12.00. Thank you Raji for your anniversary wishes. I have made some kesari as sweet and will be going to the temple in the evening. Nice to see Ravi's pictures on the blog. Bye! |
From shoba, Hai ! I just finished lunch and thought of blogging , while Avanthika is busy studying for her exams. Happy Valentine's Day everybody. This blog is enough proof of the love that we all have for each other. It is very exciting to go through it and know all that the others have done during the past few days. Hope all of you are fine and safe. Our wedding anniversary is on the 16th (monday) of this month. We are completing 17 long, loving and happy years of marriage. I am surprised to note that we were married on a day so close to Valentine's day. (of course, this was not so popular in India those days. so there is no chance of me even thinking of it. Western influence once again. ) There will not be any celebrations as usual as Raja is not used to such things and never encourages them. I have got used to passing over birthdays and anniversary just as if it was another day. Atleast this year I got a chance to inform the whole world through this blog.(thanks to Dana.) All of you may please go through the comments of your previous blog where personal comments are posted. Tommorow I am planning to make some pulov and vegetable. My brother -in- law is comming on the 17th to attend a wedding of his family. He shall be there for 2 days. I am going through all the blogs and comments and making note of them. Dana convey our love to your family. Thanks to Kim for going through the blog and commenting on it. Bye. See you soon. |
Hello everyone,
How about a story?
One day a wealthy father took his son on a trip to the country so that the son could see how the poor lived.They spent a day and a night at the farm of a very poor family.When they got back from their trip, the father asked his son, "How was the trip?""Very good, Dad!""Did you see how poor people can be?""Yeah!" "And what did you learn?" asked the dad.The son answered, "I saw that we have a dog at home, and they have four. We have a pool that reaches to the middle of the garden; they have a creek that has no end. We have imported lamps in the house; they have the stars. Our patio reaches to the front yard; they have the whole horizon." When the little boy was finished, the father was speechless.His son then added, "Thanks Dad for showing me how poor we are!"
Rama, your rose bush should be fine. Just keep watering it eventhough it looks half dead. It will probably come back strong in the spring as there is more sunlight. That is the voice of experience. I nearly kill a plant every year and still manage to bring it back to life.
Shoba, I hope you had a great time in Coimbatore. Please say hello to your family. I fondly remember meeting them on my first trip to India.
It's late here so I'm off to bed. I just hope I can get up and go to the gym in the morning before church!
Our love to all,
Dana
hello evryone,
i feel happy to have joined the blog.well.....!!the first three days of last week has been really boring...coz the govt has announced tat all colleges must be closed till they announce the date to reopen..atlast..they announced and it reopens on the 9th monday..but i have been quite busy from wednesday(5th)with my classes...im fortunate to have joined the blog...since i need not waste my dads money over the phone...i can get the daily info rite here...thanks aunt dana...i miss u all sooooo much...i wont be able login frequently though...but i sure do hope i cud login atleast once a week..bye for now...love u all loads and loads...
take care
From Shoba, Hello everyone! It is nice to see that the whole family is getting into the blog slowly. Avanthika and myself shall be leaving to Coimbatore tomorrow to attend a Poonal ( scared thread ceremony ). We shall be coming back only on Monday. I am excited as we shall be meeting a lot of our relatives and friends. We are taking the night train. Raja will be joining us on Saturday. I will be busy tomorrow as I have to do the packing and go out for some shopping. I could not do it today as it was a Bandh (all shops are closed on such days). I shall get back after I return. |
From Avanthika, Hm...........Hi everyone,how about some riddles?Here is one.Can any one answer this? What is common with a tree and a dog? Do you know something?Ants can carry about 50 pounds if they are in a group.Today morn I got up at about 6'00. breakfast mom made some chapattis.She also made some subsi for the side dish.I liked all that blogging done there.We went for a wedding yesterday and saw Lakshmi chithi,Sandya and Ramesh chithappa.We gave a present to the bride ,and when we were eating we saw them.We had a yum yum dinner there.then we were of home,we reached home at about 10.00 in the night ,I was so tired ,so I went of to sleep.I had to do an assingment.So today I wrote for about 2 hours.The assingment for about 7 pages............hm.......a lot of writing work I guess.I think that Sanjay forgot about his spider.I think you had a nice time in the flight.Vijay would have had some fun.I think that is enough for today from me .Bye......... good night! |
From Avanthika, Good blogging everyone,I liked the pictures and all that stuff there .Hm.................I have a tough time without you.But anyway it doesnot matter to me.Here in INDIA I couuld not sleep that night,so I read a magazine and as soon as I finished hthe magazine you know,what?Grrrrrrrrrrr........I slept. |
From Shoba, This is fantastic. We are going to have the whole family into the blog. Already some of them have joined and are going great. Welcome to all the new entrants. Things are not going to be the same again, with everybody writing details in the blog. All of us are really going to be connected with each other by knowing everyone's activities. Thanks to Dana for the effort that she has taken to make this happen. ( choice of the name for the blog is simply superb, I am very confident that it will live upto it's name). Hi Ravi and Raji, Nice to see that you have also entered the chain of bloggers. Keep it up. Let us all stay connected though we are in different parts of the world. Raji, my nephew's group did not win the group competition, but they went home with some individual prizes. My driver is going on leave from today afternoon. He shall be reporting back for duty only on 6.2.09. I had a lot of outside work to be done and that kept me busy for the past two days. Yesterday, Avanthika and me went for a dance performance given by her Guru. The one and half hour show was simply fantastic. I realise that Avanthika has a long, long way to go in this field in terms of classes, practice, expressions,perfection etc. We met many of our dance class friends and throughly enjoyed the evening. Her routine exams have started ( every tuesday and thursday) and so she is fully occupied with her studies and other classes. Dana, I know that you must be very busy with the packing, as you are going to leave today. It was very nice to have you and family here with all of us. Time just flies as it did now and will also fly again, so that we can see you all very soon. Once again I thank you for creating the blog and getting everyone into it. Bye, take care all of you. |
From Ravi,
Hello everybody its a very bright,warm beautiful day here. I will be busy with my children the whole day, since the car driver is on leave. Ramesh is taking care of Dana,Raju,Kimm and their children to-day. I hope their visit to parrys (in india-chennai)will be a great fun. Vijay is bit confused about why Dana is wasting a day to go to Parrys. I hope Dana's blog will come out with the real experience of the visit and the re-action of the child. Its time for me to go to school to pick-up shiva. bye everyone.
From Shoba, Hello Raji ! This is a nice way of staying connected. Delhi is getting ready for the Republic Day parade. Are you going to see the parade? We shall be watching it on TV. Take care. My nephew has come from Coimbatore yesterday. He has come with a group of 16 students from his college to participate in the IIT Saarang 2009 competitions. Raja has left to Coimbatore for a day on some official work. Yesterday was Raja's dad's anniversary. The whole day was hectic with the puja and all the cleaning and clearing after that. My nephew will leave on Sunday or Monday. Avanthika is very busy with her school activities and other classes. Hope she gets some time to write something here. |
From Shoba Hi ! It is almost a week since I wrote something here. The past week was too hectic and I was totally busy. My sister came on the 13th to spend her Pongal holidays with us. We were too busy going out for some shopping and enjoyed every minute of her stay with us. She left on the 17th night. The next day Raju and family came over to spend two days with us. It was real fun having them here with us. I realised that the entire Venugopalan family are big talkers as we talked so much until we were totally exhausted. I cooked some simple dishes for them. Raju relished every dish, Dana enjoyed them while the boys only tasted them. I ended up making dosas for every meal of Sanjay. They enjoy only certain Indian foods like the dosa, vada, pappad and of course the yummy curds and rice( note that all the items are deep fried). Both the boys came with me to drop Avanthika in her music class that is a couple blocks away. I showed them some jackfruits that were hanging on the tree. Vijay was very curious about the Indian autorickshaw. He was starring at all the ones that passed by. Hi Dana's Mom, How are you and dad? It is very nice to see the way your grand children are adjusting to the Indian way of life. They are going great. They are having real fun and are enjoying all the Indian food. Both of you need atleast a week to hear all the stories from them. Dana told me that you have moved into a very comfortable locality. I pray to God to give you both the best of health throughout your life. When are you planning to come over here? It will be a great pleasure to have you with us. |
from Avanthika Yesterday we went shopping in mylapore with my prerima and mom.We took an hour to buy all the things.we bought chains, earings etc.We then went to a sari shop and bought some saris too. |
From AVANTHIKA, Today my aunt from Coimbatore came to Chennai by train.She came in the morning at around 7.30a.m.when I was about to leave to school. She said she has brought a gift for me. I went off to school, I was eager to know what the gift was. T hen I rushed back home and there on the table was the present. She had bought a set of bangles and a cell phone holder for my mom. I took pictures of her with the camera which Dana chitthi gave me. |
From Shoba Today I had the shock of my life on seeing Raji in a jean and top, with short hair. Anyway I am so happy for her and nice to see the way she is adapting to her new surroundings. I could make out that she is all ready to go out of India on her new job. It was nice to spend the evening with the family. Yesterday was very eventful. Two piegons tried to build a nest on our toilet ventilator. I had a tough time shooing them away. Then I spent almost 3 hours in netting the ventilator. I was successful at last. They have not come back. |
From AVANTHIKA, Today me,my mom and my dad went to kottivakam and spent our day with Raji athai.We took many photos of each other with the camera that Dana chitthi got us. We all were playing and enjoying. Ramesh chittappa took Sanjay and Sandhya to drop Aishwarya akka. Raji athai gave me a pencil box which had some useful gifts in it. Suchitra gave me some chocolates and I ate a few on reaching home. Raji athai was looking so trendy and fashionable in her new outfit. Yesterday I went to school with my mom for the parent -teacher meeting. There was an art and craft display in school. All the students had done any craft or drawing for the display. My paper bag, peacock drawing and garden setup was displayed. |
Today I had a great day with Sanjay and Vijayd. We went to the planetarium and saw the show and then went to the science exhibition. We had so much fun today. |