thanks giving in st louis ashsa and kiran home town

well we all ravi/ anu/ kirtana had a good holiday for thanks giving and we all decided to come to st louis to visit asha.ravi brought a van Chevrolet a five seat er . we wanted to start early by six sharp in the morning instead we started alte by eight in the morn .we started well by keeping time and ran smooth towards st Louis. but soon in the Atlanta area Ravi lost his way and missed a junction. Ainu tried telling him but no because he was pretty sure he was going the correct way. he soon corrected his way and we passed ruby falls area. i took lot of photographs all the way. we soon entered the Tennessee mountains and we coasted well into the Tennessee mountains. we stopped at a deli and ate some sandwich in the van and wee doing well. i dozed off for some time. As we neared Nashville i felt an inkling of a motion down my butt and Ravi was the driver. I called out to (it being Darjeeling type ) Ravi to take me to the nearest rest room . We went into a deli but found lot of men standing in queue - Ravi bolted from there to another shop. I waited for some time and had a terrific motion and as i came out i was out of tension. in the mean time ram and anu also landed up to ease themselves. luckily the women in queue was very short.While finding the rest room ravi lost his way. Anu corrected brought hi back to the actual high way. My tension was over however but filled up some gas on the way and picked some coffee to drink since the cold was bad eneough. After some driving he felt the rumblings and he went to another rest room. This time anu drove rest ot the way. As we neared st louis ravi took over and drove till asha's house . he called up to asha and she directed and finally at 2100 hrs we landed up in asha's house. i ahd neot seen their house. I went to each room and saw how big it was. the living room had a huge high cieiling , the main drawing room was small and formal dining room was small but were done up nicely. the kitchen was great. the kitchen could be entered from the garrage. kiran rolled up a nice tea cup for me.anu also ahd tea to warm up. kiran had a nice beer along with ravi. we all toasted for the nice house and thanks giving. asha had prepared so much food. we changed over fast into casuals and sat for dinner. asha made some pulav - out of the world . we ate and ate till the vessels ahd no more . we went to our rooms to sleeep. the bedrooms were nicely made up and were warm. The outside cold was too much. while singing praises for asha's food we slep off.
adi was taken aback when we all landed up thru the door . he hid himself behnd the curtains. he hugged all of us and it was great to see him at play over the stairs. he wouldroll down a baseball and ask us to throw it back. if he was able to hit he would shout and if not he would ask us to pick it ouresleves and give hm a toss.
we all slept till 1000 hrs in the morning and it was very cold.Anu the great decided we will not go out but stay in bed. kiran and ravi braved the cold and went out to bring a nice emglish movie. we had good breakfast and them we slowly finished our daily stuff . iI shaved fast and had bath. i did my pooja but then the two devils rolled in. adi with his armor as a batma with shamurrai . kiratan the doll came up with her songs on sai. by shouting as dai to sai sai , kirtana started off with her bhajans. adi not to be undone gave me a push and samuraaied me withhis sword. i said hands up and by rules he should off left me alone. he did only when i admitted that i was throughly beaten by the young devil. however he allowed me to finish my sai puja with him bowing on all fours . But he was soon back in business of dealing me blows from his sword. Ram informed me that since anu was dog tired we would rather sleep . asha prepared great stuff and we all ate -rather swalloed the stuff and went off to sleep.The cold was still bitter and the streets and one time it snowed also but it disappeared by melting off. it was bitterly cold . it was a good move not to move out. we slept in the aft and again after eating the lavish food in the night we again slept off. kirtana and adi joined us . after some time adi asked for his mother and went off saying bye bye.

It was bad enough the cold he next day. We got up late as usual. We went into the kitchen and ate up the upama prepared by kiran himself. I finished my shave and puja fast and discovered that today we were eating out. The morning was cold and a slight drizzle was on. We got into Ravi’s van but then none could have fitted in. Therefore, asha took out her car -the black cat and drove it down to the café in the downtown. The café was rather full and we had to wait some time before we got summons from the manager. We went in for buffet for all of us. We selected the spread on the buffet table. The spread was from idly, sambar, upama to north Indian khana and from normal veg to non-veg fish, chicken meat etc. Well I chose some chicken along with idly samabar etc Ravi and kiran were strict veggies. Asha, ram and anu ate the food like veggies. Kirtana ate the idlys etc. only adi gave me company by choosing chicken a small piece. The fella ate the whole lot. Kiran did four courses, me three courses, and Ravi 4, asha and anu 3 each and ram did three like that. The food was good. The bill was paid by Ravi. He said the damage was small.

After that, we went to Macy Mall. Anu wanted to buy a watch for me. It was cold outside but we braved the weather and rushed into the big mall. Yes, the mall was big. Anu went around the showcases and tried to see one that fits my wrist. Some were big, some small and very big. She wanted to buy a male one for me suiting my wrist. Well I tried several times. Finally I selected a black rectangular one a slime one but even that was too big for my wrist. Asha and Anu started complaining that dad has girlish hands with small wrists etc. fine. We did select several ones. Finally, she did pick up one black one with black chain and a black dial. The minute, hour and second hands were also black with a date slot. She tried it on my wrist. It fitted well but the chain had to be shortened to my size. The woman counter said it would take one hour. Therefore, we rushed out to see the mall wings. The mall was immense. We wee feeling hungry. We squatted in a place-a big restaurant. We ate and had chai etc… the crowd was good. After we finished eating, we sat around and saw some of the places for asking photographs. I took several photographs. Adi and kiru were photographed nicely. The photos are on the web. Having spent one hour in the mall we went back to get the watch. The woman at the counter did put it around me and remarked that it fitted it well. Anu paid the amount. She got 20% rebate since it was thanks giving day.
The next day was our last day. As usual, we got up late. We finished our three ss’s fast and went into the kitchen to find kiran making a similar breakfast. He made a pot and told me to eat the breakfast. Fine we did and it was again explained that we were going to a Vietnam restaurant. We landed fast but found many seats were vacant but the hotel sure was short of hands. We waited in the lobby. Adi and kiru made the choice difficult as little children. THe woman waiter took the order but made us sit for half an hour before something could come on the table. Ram, females, and children went in for some veg variety from Vietnam. Ravi and kiran tried something new. I tried some Venetian chicken with lot of gas fuss. The price was rather high. The chicken was tender and the veg stuff stuffing g accompanying was good. It turned out to be sweet and not hot. I was scared that it would be hot but it turned out to be sweet with sweet potato and chicken. The chicken was tender and I ate up the whole lot. One problem, you face when you go in for non-veg you find that after you have your fill there is no one to help you out! Luckily, the spread was not much and I finished it right away. The children played and were noisy abut were tolerable. Later on kiran told us that the owner is very fussy with children and generally gets angry. Fine we were not that I thought after the good feed wee will go home and go to bed. However, no! Ravi and kiran were keen on going to play bowling avenue. We soon went into one. The hall was empty - it being 16000 hrs. We got one side avenue to play. Ravi was good at it. They showed us how to handle and throw the bowling ball. He mad us select light ones the one can carry and throw. Ram was good at it . Ram was slow but her shots were good. I got it all wrong. The ball would veer away just like that. The balls were too heavy to make an impact and roll it the way it should be. Ravi good some good shots. Anu surprisingly was more adept and scored well on the first shot it. It required some three full shots to dislodge all the sticks. Anu scored the highest followed by anu, kiran, asha, ram and me. I got some low marks since the first shots were all wild.
The evening was cold again and we all slept off after taking the food. Ravi told us to start the next day by 6 mornings. In the night, kiran and Ravi wanted to go to a movie in the night. I and ram made adia and kiru sleep with us. They did sleep. At one time adi got up to talk to his mother. We somehow mad him sleep. If he had gone down it would have spoilt the plan. The adults slipped peacefully. Thought they would return by 1200hrs. However, no they did not. Ram sent me to look for them in the night. They did not contact us. For some time we were worried that that about some mishap. However, in the morning adi got up fast and said he would go and see his mother and he slept off. We tried getting up fast and finished our ablutions fast. We were ready by 0600 hrs. The cold was biting. We got into the big van with all our luggage.etc. We had tea that asha prepared. The cold was so much that kiran put on a rajai and bid us good-bye. The photographs clearly show kiran behind a rajai. Adi was still sleeping and could not bid us good bye .
On our return trip, we did not have much problem. It was cold in the morning. Still Ravi drove away. He kept on driving for 3 hours. We found a Deli and he went inside and bought some sandwiches big ones one for each one of us. We had coffee on the way. In six hours, we were near Nashville. We were happy keeping the time. Then we hit Tennessee valley but the scenes were not that good. We saw the Smokey Mountains in broad day light. Anu explained in detail why they are called really Smokey Mountains with the blue or azure hue behind the mountains like smoke trailing away. That was great but I could not snap some photos because the camera battery had given way. I pestered with rave and he went bought well rechargeable from the Wal-Mart. The cost was $ 17, he got a discount of $ 10, and it cost just $ 7. I also got a pack of rechargeable two A and 3A packs. We finally made it home. The traffic build up slowed us down and we landed up at 2000 hrs. Ravi was exhausted and Anu drove the back way. We did reach. The total run was roughly 12 to 13 hours continuous.



the third day

Diwali with kiru in her house

Anu as usual, after office went to pick up kiru from school.We wanted to surprise her. Me and Ravi had put some lights for the Halloween . We kept and retained the same and put some more lights in the aft. We kept the lights in the evening-- not to be undone Ram put some chalked borders like in India. Anu and Kiru were rather surprised to do see the lights . Kiru cried out happy Halloween. It took us more than fifteen minutes to make her switch over from Halloween to Diwali. She kept saying happy Diwali all the night. It was great fun. Ravi and Anu brought more candles stuff and put them all over the front porch and front door. The lights glistened. We all took bath and took the Divas to Baba for blessing. We took lot of pics. They have come out well. Anu changed over to an orange salwar /kameez. Kiru wore a blue dress and put on all lot of gold jwellery. One shot of Anu was outstanding when she was coming out of the Baba room with all the divas kept in a plate. She was glowing. Ram and myself got reminded of what Pinni had told me down in Tanuku during Chandi's marraige. She (PINNI) nudged me to to tell that she looked so glowing and beautiful as she carried the divas in her marriage white Saree dress, she also told me that she had attended so many marriages of her daughters and others but she pointed out that Anu looked the most beautiful whicn I missed .Pinni had tears in her face. I pointed to Chandi as she looked so dashing. But pinni said no you should have seen anu in her robe. that was by the way.
Anu, Ravi and Ram arranged the formal dining table with lot of sweets. She decorated the table with floating divas . Ram had brought new divas where by the long wine cups are filled with water and oil WITH a waxed wick that glowed so beautifully. We all had sweets . We had a good time. We finished the pataks and sparklers as well. We went out in the garage to light the stuff . the sparklers were the only stuff we could light that day- it being USA. The photographs also came out well -esp the sparklers coming out like whirl pools and flashy straight lines.
We had wine and good food and lastly saw 'jab we met'. It was a great day and Diwali night. We enjoyed all the more because this was the first time we all - ravi, anu, kiru ,rama and achut were together . We took so many pics and sent them to all the relatives. Kiru really understood the Diwali festival. She still says happy Divali. She in her blue dress was fab and divine like luxmi Devi. I have put Aanu 's and Kiru's photographs on the web. one must see them to believe. I feel that Baba is kind enough to make me live these days to remind me what I have been missing during my accident days. Ram was just glowing in her coffee colored Saree. she was enchanting - less said the better.
Finally we had a good time and thanked Baba all the way.

 
 

amlicola falls and riotous hills

anu, ravi, kiru , ram and self visited the Amlilcola falls- the famous falls we had seen earlier but anu esp wanted me to see the riot of fall colors. This year in Atlanta the weather was pretty hot and the leaves were nt turning colorful. Well we decided it is time we went to the falls. Yes we were glad we did!!. Here the highway and the hill side ways were full of trees changing colors from full to partial coloring.It looked as if the hills were painted with color- leaves turning green , red , blue and finally yellow and bare as well. It reminded of our stay in Kasauli in the eighties. Hell just like when the rains just appeared all of a sudden the small hill sides, bushes, stone hill small and big just had purple lilies and cosmos all over. I was wonder stuck . Imagine lilies sticking over stones , hill sides and places no human can visit. It looked a garden in such god forsaken place in downs and vales where no human or man can reach the place to plant a garden. It looked as if God took his divine plane to plant these flowers. The lilies and cosmos were laid by the thousands. Yellow comso and purple lilies . Well the lilies declared that rains would come down any time and they did. Well the lilies disappeared after the onslaught of the rains . They did appear now and then cladding the whole hill sides with garden flowers.I used to go for morning runs chasing the mountain shadow in the plains before the sunrise at kasuali and was amazed to see the shoots of Delia's and Delia's of all colors big and small . After a week the maid would bring Delia's , lilies and cosmos by the bushels since they were free for picking. ram would adorn the whole house with the Delia's cosmos and lilies. ram would put salt along with water and the Flowers would remain bright for a full week.
Well the scenes were different in the Georgian hills . From the Amlilloa falls ridge we had a terrific view , we could see the far blue mountains , then as the eyes would settle for closer hills and vales , one could see the painted hills in different hues from green, purple, red, and finally the yellow - a riot of colors. The entire landscape had shades of colors as if the divine painter has brushed the country side with his magic wand. The view from the the falls bridge was too devastating- too good for the eye. We just stood there and scanned the hills, vales and roads and people who would not budge from the spot. We had lovers , old people and children walking down the steps like at Tiruati to see the falls. As you look up from the lower bridge one can see the full breadth of the magnificent falls in all glory with trees all adorned in yellow, green, red and purple colors. The sight was too much for our eyes. We stood there for many minutes took pics and departed with a heavy heart- storing them in the memory- to be gleaned now and then in our leisure time as we go down the memory lanes seeing through the vacant eye- repairing our mind and brain in our depressed hours. We thanked the good lord, anu esp Anu to insist on the journey. I will be ever thankful. Finally the Amilicola falls stand next to Kasauli riot of colors in my vacant mind. God bless
achuta 04 Nov 2007

 
 
 
 

imagine me and ram in us for celeb and ravi anniversary

well ram and myself are available in Atlanta to celeb anu/Ravi wedding anniversary on Nov 02 200. first time we are four together to celeb her anniversary. well i got up at 5 am to greet Ravi. he offered Good hand shake and a good squeeze. anu did not get till 0620 hrs .I kep waiting till she went into the puja room to pray for sai. i gave her hand shake and a big hug and directed to her to ram. they enclosed each other with tear drops. later i gave her a call telling her to get back home fast after picking up kiru from school.she promised to do so. i sent her an e-mail
Hi
Anu and Ravi
t is the first
Time since your marriage in 95
We are together
WE as parents
To bless you two
And let us
Make it an occassion !!

So I suggest you anu
Take leave to morrow
And stay home
We will prevent ravi
From going to office
And strongly make him stay
And then marry you again
With kirtana's consent

What say anu ???
Kiru would not object !
She dare not
achuta
but she did not agree to take off for this purpose.well we are still waiting her for her. i hope she comes home fast.
achuta

anu and ravi got married 12 years ago in 95

anu the manna maker

anu made some terrific food fit for the gods . i coud not but write the lines in e amil to every one. i got no replies but. why ?? i kept thinking. fine the food was good soup, followed by parotha, totrtile wrap and finally the pasta. sure anu promised to rpeat the same before we go back from usa to india. ok

kiru hot on haloween

kiru came running from her return from school. she saw new boys and girls coming in different dresses to greet her. she went mad and greeted them all. she refused to take her food . she had gone dressed as a witch. we dropped her in school and she played a lot in school . the teachers were very enthu about her. she came home and along with Anu ran to the Devonhall neighbor hood and went to to every one's house greeting them with happy Halloween . she was greeted by every one. she was thrilled and the neighbors were equally thrilled. she went to all the houses knocked on their doors and collected candies right and left. she correctly wished all the elders and schidren alike. only the children were bigger and she could not keep with their pace. but she did greet every one in clear terms. she would not still come back. anu had to give her bath and later feed her. well she obliged her . but after her bath and food intake she pressed anu to take her out. this time anu took her in the car and showed the entire subdivision . till she was not satisfied. she bid us goodnight and slept off. she came back again complaining she could not sleep. well i went along with her. she asked me to tell her stories of princess Dora and later Cinderella. well i did and the poor thing she was so exhausted that she slept off immediately. in the process i also went off to sleep. I had to be awakened later. she slept well with a smile on her face telling the world that she Had enjoyed the most . well she did.

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we went to the open house school of hope academy in the evening hours only. kiru was tired and anu had just come from school. kiru was sleeping in the car. we slipped out and went on our way to her school . we met all the teachers . we met the principal , her maths teacher as well. he told us that she was counting up to 20 w/o trouble. she was not finicky but very attentive n the class. she was not fidgety at all and all attention. her other class teacher told us she was unlike other children , very attentive, playful, and chatty and on top very co-operative. her memory was good she could recall names and events etc.. the school was very grand. a small place . the attention was almost one to one- big help. the Principal was very attentive and did not complain about her. In the open house we met all the teachers. we found she was the youngest amongst all the students. she looked very normal amongst the students . at the end the principal showed us a presentation of all the progress made by the students. the and staff were very happy with our interaction and they warmed up to us esp when i was taking the photographs . they did not object. In fact i was apprehensive about my camera shooting. After I one or two shots they seem to like it. some of them even posed for the shots. It was very enlightening. I am sure that with the progress she is making kiru will no difficulty in getting into the next grade in school.
achuta

adi miss most

iGoogle
miss Adi and asha most. they went away today to st Louis . Adi always said 'why " all the time. do not need your help. i am grown up. i am not a baby any more. the cycle is meant for babies. i can do it myself -i am grown up -cannot you see. see how i put my shoes.see how i flush. i can put on my nicker - i do not need your help. see i am grown - lot of strength. i am hanuman . i am bhima. i like Krishna . pl tell me stories of Krishna . how did he beat kamsa the bad king.why did he kill him. pl tell me the dance of Krishna on snake king. do i have the mark on me. all cobras have this mark. the serpent king had five heads why ?? he had ten wives why ?? why were the people scared of the lake waters why ?? why Krishna not afraid of the water. he dive straight like in a pool . he went down-down down and caught of the serpent tail and danced with it. the serpent could not locate him . he was dancing on his hood from one hood to the other . Adi laughed all the time. the wives wept and wept and had to beg krishna why ?? Krishna told him to go away with his bad wives. the lake was cleared and then the cows and men could drink the clear water . Krishna is good. pl tell this story tomorrow again. was bhima stronger then hanuman ? why ? they were brothers why ? Krishna could kill all of them with one hand and laugh . why ??. tattaya when you come to st Louis bring grandmother and a small toy for me. you will why ?? you will come to my room and fight with me like hanuman . you will tell more stories of Krishna yes yes i will wait. go to school. i will tell about how big is Krishna than bhima and hanuma. i will tell my teacher and daddy also. you promise to bring grandmother. i like her very much. OK pl sleep why ?? i can sleep myself. see how i sleep . bye bye
achuta

Welcome to Gmail

Welcome to Gmail
had a good day today. i got ready for jogging on the tread . on my suggestion for a walk ram and anu got ready for a physical walk to jhon creek right side. we went for a half an hour walk. took great pics. after coming back while talking to ravi he suggested a lunch at italian restaurant . fine we took pasta as lunch. i could not eat much because the stuff was bolting out from my mouth. anu suggested cutting the past with knife. that got me the art of eating pasta. i finished half. it was ever filling. brought the other half with us. we took great pics there.
in the afternoon we went to pick up kiru from her school. today we had to pick up her from a golf course. we took great pics there. we travelled by the cart there. the golf club was great. I could complet my article lawn aerators and uoploaded it to adppc.

hello we reached us atlanta

hi everyone
we came 3 weeks back. kirtana has grown tall very handsome etc.. she adores ram and me. she calls me tata . i would like to be called tataya. contacted every one satyam/bujji etc.. told them about father's condition. bujji agreed to go and See dad.
achuta