From Ravi

Hello Dana and Raju hoping to get a call from you as soon as you reach home.
can you invite Rama and Ramanan too to join the blog? the email id is
ramanancs@gmail.com. bye

from Ravi

hi folks, suja made vathakkuzhambu,appalam(papad)Keerai(spinach), for breakfast. We really miss Raju and your family (incl. of Kimm and Shelby). I am very happy that Dana got her betrothal ring repaired. I noticed that Vijay had left his treasure (cricket bat) here. I know there was no room for few of the other things too.But I am wondering how u guys took all the sheen and shine of our morning and huge vaccum created by your absence. anyhow my prayers for your safe and happy journey back home.I am eagerly awaiting to hear from you all.

blogging?,interesting.But you are leaving

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.

Lovely

Hi Ravi,
It is lovely to see u in the blog.
With Love,
Raji

from ravi

hello i am a new entrant hope to kep in touch frequently

Hello Shoba and Dana,

It is nice to keep in touch with everyone. I was pre occupied with my works.

Dana convery my warm welcome to your sister and her daughter. It is nice that ur visiting all our family members.

Convey my wishes to Avanthika , Sanjay, Vijay , Siva, Suji, Sanju , Kim , Shelly and others.

I enjoyed watching A.R. Rahman's Golden Globe Award and Republic Day Parade.

Shoba How was ur nephew's performance?

Subha called up and informed me about the solar eclipse.

Today I started posting pictures .

Ravi called up and told my student's parents came to invite me for their daughter's marriage.

With Love,

Raji

From Dana

Hello everyone! This is getting exciting. Raji is up and running. We are right now trying to get Ravi and his family up and running. Soon the whole family will be chatting back and forth keeping everyone up to date, which is getting more difficult now that we are spreading all over the globe. So much has happened since my last post. I can hardly believe that my sister and Shelby have come to visit us in India. It is so wonderful to have them meet the family and see the places that we have been talking about for the last 14 years. Since they arrived (and got over the jet lag and time change), we spent the day in Mylapore (which to those who live in Chennai you know that means jewelry shopping), Mahabalipuram, Subha's house, Raja & Shoba's house. So we have been very busy. The trip to the Sukra (silver shop) was loads of fun. Kimm and I got a tray and went through each case. We picked the jewelry we liked from each case and put it on our tray. Once we finished that process we sat down with our tray and began the arduous process of picking from our tray of favorites. You know what shopping does to you....makes you starving, so off to the restaurant we went. The next day we went to Mahabalipuram. The ruins are amazing. They date back to the 7th century. The rock carving is spectacular. The following day we were off to Raja and Shoba's house. Of course, we ran up to the roof top for a great sunset view and cool breezes. Avanthika took Kimm and I and the kids for a walk a few blocks away, so we could show them what a Jack fruit looks like. It is a delicious fruit, but it is so peculiar. It is larger than a watermellon, has a rough skin, a thin stem, and scariest of all, it grows high up in a tree. If one falls on you it is all over. Getting the edible fruit out is a lot of work but worth it. We had great fun talking and letting Kimm in on a few family stories. Raja and Raju (that's Siva for my friends back home) talked business as usual. Shoba made a delicious dinner. When there is coconut chutney involved it's fabulous and she makes a fabulous coconut chutney.
Today we went to Subha's house for a quick visit. She made one of my favorite snacks, masala vada. She also made a fantastic tomato chutney with idly. Fortunately we timed our trip just right to miss the heavy traffic. The 22 mile trip can take several hours if you don't plan properly. We already made that mistake earlier in the month.
We are so sad to be counting our last days here. We have so enjoyed our stay. Our family has taken such good care of us. We have all been spoiled. I was thinking that my husband and children were being spoiled, but to day I noticed that all 10 of my finger nails are long at the same time. This has never happened to me before. I realized of course it is because I haven't done any work at all. They don't even let me clear a dish from the table! They are amazing hosts. I'm realizing who much room I have for improvement.
Thank you everyone for contributing to the blog, I believe it will really be a great tool to help us keep up with each other and stay close.

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.

Thrusday Market

Hi everyone,
It is very cold in Delhi.
Everyone liked the wrist band made of shells that we bought in the beach.
Yesterday I went to the market. It is a special market named as Thursday Market, We get fresh fruits and vegetables directly from the farm. It was very lovely with full of green vegetables and colourful fruits.

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 Dana

Hello! I'm sorry it has been awhile since I posted. I actually typed in a post but I wasn't connected to the internet. When I tried to post I lost the whole thing:( Okay, so, We have now been to Marina Beach twice. Each time was a blast:) The first time we went with Ravi, Sujatha, Siva (my nefew), Sujithra, Aishwarya, Raji Atai, and my family. Good thing we have an 11 seater van (also known as a 6 seater in the US). The piling in is what makes it so fun for us. There are no seat belt or car seat laws here, so no worries. The first time we went was because there was a mutany. We started out with a quick trip to a handicraft exhibition. We ended up having to go across town. When it became late we decided to eat dinner out. We were all well entertained when Vijay had a run in with an indian style bathroom at the restaurant. Uncle Ravi to the rescue! After that the children demanded a trip to Marina Beach as compensation for their pain and suffering. When we are in town we are all celebrating and there is no limit with the Uncles and Aunties. So, when we got to the beach I bought everyone a light up stick, then a twirlie thing. This year the twirlie things have a light on them. They are a small plastic thing that when you shoot into the wind on the beach it comes back to you. It was really fun when the kids all shot them off at the same time. From there Raji Atai bought everyone kites. The sea breeze makes Kite flying very easy and the kites go so high. Even though we left the beach at 11:00 pm, Ravi chittapa yelled Ice Cream for everyone, so there we were at Cool Cats getting ice cream at eleven o'clock We arrived home at midnight exhausted and happy!

A day or two later we started out go carting. What a blast that was. Lakshmi got behind a wheel for the first time in 36 years. She was terrific and ran a noteworthy race even though Raji, her 6 year old daughter was yelling faster, faster. Sanjay faired very well and was even able to get back in the game after a spin out due to his dad hit his back bumper. It was also Aishwarya's first time behind the wheel as well. She was so brave rounding the corners practically on two wheels, determined to not let her uncles pass her. As I looked closer, I realized these go carts were nothing more than lawn mower motors with a frame and some plastic playground border materials for bumpers, so I tried my best to appeal to my boys that for a science project they could easily build one of these go carts. We decided to swing past the house for 5 minutes to pick up some water and a change of shoes and head to the beach. It was a 2 hour 5 minute break. No one goes to the beach before 4 o'clock... It's unheard of! There were gasps all around when I suggested that we go at 1:00. So after our 2 hour break, we all piled back in and headed to Marina Beach. This time we played games and Raji and Vijay road a horse together. We ate at all the stands, baji, roasted corn on the cob, behl puri, son papri, you name it. Sanjay and Vijay stuck their toes in the water. The kids took endless turns shooting a bb gun at a wall of balloons. Instead of bb's they use lentils dipped in metal. We, of course, returned home at midnight exhausted again.

Shopping in Mylapore

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 Dana

Happy Pongal everyone! Yesterday was Pongal. Ramesh, Raju, and Raji took about an hours drive to see the farm house that Ramesh built. It sits in the middle of rice fields. Think beautiful plantation house with verandas and cool sea breezes. At Least this is the picture that Raju gave me of the place. I can't wait to see it. I think we will wait until Aunt Kimmy and Shelby come. By yesterday I was exhausted from all the fun we have been having, so I stayed at home and slept all afternoon. About 6:00 Ravi took Sujatha, Aishwarya, Sujitra, Siva and me to the handicraft exhibition. I was able to get a birthday present for Sujatha and a few gifts for friends. We all ended up back at the house by 8:00, ate some dinner and then off to bed.

From Dana

Shoba and Avanthi, great job blogging. I loved all the updates from you. This will be really fun or as Aishwaria is fond of saying "too good." Yesterday Ravi and Sujatha and the kids took Raju, me Sanjay & Vijay and Raji over to Balaji and Subha's house for a short stay. We left during rush hour, 7:00 p.m., and it took us 2 hours for the 20 kilometer drive. T Nagar has gotten so crowded since I was there a few years ago. As usual the kids were busy playing. Kumar had some fireworks, so while the women slaved in the kitchen serving Subha's excellent meal, the kids burst some crackers (lit firecrackers and sparklers). Late that night, Raji Periamma and Aishwaria laid down to sleep on the living room floor. One by one the kids all came out and decided to sleep together on the floor. The next morning we were up early, because Balaji and Subha wanted to take us to a special place for breakfast. I had a wonderful onion and chili uttapum with sambar, green chutney, and coconut chutney. Vijay, of course, had idlly and vada and was still able to eat half of Sanjay's masala dosa. Raji shared some of her breakfast special with me. It was all quite delicious. But there was no time to waste, Subha had a morning of shopping planned for us, so off we went. T Nagar is crowded, but it's lots of fun to shop there. The boys all got outfits a gift from Balaji Atimber and Subha atai. Raju mama bought outfits for Kumar and Swamy (who is now called Maya, because one of the little ones couldn't pronounce his name). At every turn Raji Atai and Subha Atai were buying my boys gifts. We were glad to finally get a remote control car for Swamy. We then went for a delicious, healthy lunch at a specialty restaurant that Balaji and Subha picked out for us. The food was really different and delicious. We were served 5 juices each in a one ounce cup, then a row of raw vegetables in the form of different salads ( I especially liked the cabbage, beetroot, carrot, and green mango salad with peppercorns), then a row of semi cooked vegetables, then a row of fully cooked vegetables. There were I think 15 dishes in all and just a few bites of each. It was really fun to get to taste all those dishes. Oh, and how can I forget they served brown and white rice at the very end. This way you are already full of good veggies. We went back to the house and Aishwaria and Raji napped, Raju and Sanjay had a talk in the back bedroom, the kids played, and Subha, Balaji and I talked for a good hour. Vijay, however, went off with Kumar, who took him on a motorcycle ride! We had a wonderful time.

My gift.

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.

Field trip to the beach.

From Avanthika
Today we went on a field trip to the beach. We were first divided into different groups. We were taken there to learn about the land and sea breeze. It was not very hot and so we enjoyed our walk to the water. Then we stood in the waves . We did not mind our dresses getting wet. we had real fun in the water. We collected some shells and came back to school.

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.

From Dana

Today Raji has come from Delhi. We are all very excited. Aishwarya has come from the U. S. She had a wonderful time visiting family in Chicago. She is already to go back to the university. We are all shocked and delighted to see how much Raji has changed. She has cut her hair (it's adorable). She came in jeans and a beautiful pink blouse and very cool sunglasses.
Last night Ramesh, Lakshmi, Raju, Dana, Aishwarya, Suji, Sandya, Sanjay and Vijay went to a mall called Mayajaal in ECR (East Coast road). We were snowballing (bowling). Most everyone got gutterballs, but we had loads of fun. Then we were off to play arcade games. Everyone got pencils for prizes. Later we went to the Fisherman's Cove (Taj) in Muttukadu, where we spent time watching a man make glass figurines. Sanjay bought one for Erin and one for Alyce and one for Sandya. We had a wonderful dinner there. We met a woman who works for the New York Times. She was from New York City. We had a nice conversation. Just as we were leaving Ramesh arranged for a golf cart ride through the resort and down to the beach. They had a bonfire going. It was just beautiful. Sanjay and Sandya fell sound asleep in the car. We got home very late about midnight. It was great fun! How can we forget this afternoon we made pakoras, yum. Raji brought wonderful gifts for everyone and lots of treats to eat, jelabee, samosa, chips, juice, and ,of course, grilled cheese.

From Dana

Today we spent the day at Siva's oldest brother's house with Shoba and Avanthika. We sat and talk. As is typical of Indian homes, they have a hanging chair. Avanti pushed Vijay in it all afternoon. The kids told each other jokes and riddles and played cards, and Shutes and Ladders. We then went to the science center and planetarium and then on to the playground. Siva got on the merry go round and almost made himself sick. It was a great day.

From Avanthika

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.

Enjoying our time here!

We are keeping a busy schedule while we are here. Yesterday we went to a beautiful 5 star hotel for dinner. Siva's oldest brother took us. While we were there we ran into the gentlemen that we met in Germany. I would say it was a small world but when you are in a small country of over 1 billion people it doesn't seem like it. It seem a little more like the title of Thomas Friedman's latest book, "Flat, Hot, and Crowded." We had a great time, but again it was around 8 p.m. and the boys were so sleepy that they couldn't eat.

Today we went to my niece's school and chatted with the principle for a couple of hours. It was a very enjoyable exchange. Education in India is very competitive. Most children are in private schools so there is a lot of competition for students and a lot of pressure for students to do well. It reminded me of choosing curriculum. You have a million choices and are expected to choose just the right one. Again though, Vijay having had a big breakfast of a bowl of rice with rasam and okra, a bowl of curd rice, and then just a bowl of curd, oh yeah and a cup of hot cocoa, he fell asleep sitting up in a chair in the principle's office. We are planning to send him to school for a day with Sandya. She is in 2nd grade also.

This Saturday Siva, his brother, Sanjay, Vijay, and whomever else hears about it will be taking a flight to another city to check up on a job site. I told the ladies I would cook for them all day and bring them their coffee. I am a nervous wreck. If I can't pull this off they will probably never visit me in the U.S. It should be a very entertaining day. My sisters-in-law are very fun loving and we enjoy a great friendship and good girl talk.

Siva is keeping busy. He also wakes up at all hours of the night, so he gets to work. It works out well because he is then free during the day. He talks business with his brothers all day long.

From Sanjay:
Time with my cousins is very fun. I taught them a few games. I brought some balloons which we used for water balloon fights. The dads even play along with us. Vijay dropped a balloon on Uncle Ramesh's head from the balcony and it roll down his head and popped on someone else. It was really funny. I loved playing ball at the beach. I taught my cousin Kumar how to play football. Today we went shoe shopping and I got a great pair of sandles; Vijay got crocs. Wish you all were here with me. Bye!

We have arrived!

Our 20 hour trip was a little eventful. We had an 8 hour flight to Brussels, after which all 400 of us disembarked like cattle at about 3:00 a.m. We were ushered through another security check point. Since we were about 300th in line the boys and I decided to run to the restroom. I got into a slight altercation with the cleaning woman who was trying to force me to use the men's room. I would have no part of that, so it became a tug of war with the bathroom door. I won of course and the other ladies cheered me on. It was quite a spectacle I am sorry to say. When ya gotta go, ya gotta go! We finally boarded the next plane without further incident. After several hours we all finally settled in and fell asleep. Siva and Vijay were on one side of the plane and Sanjay and I were on the other. With 4 hours and 53 minutes to go, Sanjay, without warning, started vomiting. I have no idea where that came from.

Well, we finally arrived at 1:00 a.m. on January 2nd. We were up and running by 6:30 a.m. talking and eating the next day. The boys fell asleep sitting up in their uncle's office. We carried them off to bed but, they were up by 1:00 a.m. So through the night we were playing cards, getting unpacked and having peanut m & m's for breakfast at 3:00 a.m. Changing your days into nights and your nights into days is no easy task.

The next day all of Siva's brothers and one sister and their families were all together for the day. We had a great time talking and reminiscing. We all piled into several cars and drove the 3 blocks to the beach. At dinner time the boys fell asleep at the table while waiting for their dinner. Vijay is in heaven. After coming to India the whole world makes sense to him. He is an Indian at heart and is very much at home. To put it in his own words, he said "This is the best place I have ever been!" Sanjay is not too sure and is sticking close to me when he is not busy playing with cousins or the new toys that the uncles have bought for him.

Yesterday, we left the children with their aunts so I could attend a meeting Siva had with some gentlemen we met in Germany this past summer. It ended up lasting all day. I thought the boys would have a heart attack, but they didn't even notice. They are doing so well and are so comfortable.

We are staying in a brand new 2 bedroom apartment that was built on top of the guest house we stayed in last time we were here. Siva's youngest brother moved into the guest house and expanded it. Now, all three families have their own homes but we are only a few steps from each others' front door. My sisters in law are sharing the cooking but they both want us to eat at their house. When we go into one house we have a meal or coffee (which is given in a small cup about every 2 hours), if we then go into the other house they are insisting that we eat there too. So for the first 2 days we were having 2 breakfasts, 2 coffees, 2 lunches, 2 coffees, etc.... We finally worked out a system.

We are all being spoiled wrotten! They won't let me do any work around here and the rest of my family are eating all their favorite foods.

From Vijay:
I'm busy all day playing with my cousins, Sandya, Sujee, and Siva. Sandya calls me Ana, because I am one year older than her. My Chitty (aunt) Lakshmi took me to Sandya's school and out to buy bread and a toy. I was digging in the sand and pop out came a crab. Boy, that startled me! The food is the best cooking I have ever had. I have vadai and curd rice every meal.