15.Mar.2010: Artist Anu's feat!!

Think most of you know that my better half (yes, really better :)) Anu does many art work that includes drawing. She has now got a drawing notebook and started drawing after a long gap. Recently she drew a toy seller picture using different HB pencils for shading. It came out so well that I immediately took a copy of that drawing and pasted in my workplace. No wonder that everyone who had seen that drawing were amazed at the work and I really felt happy for her.

I never knew that much more happier moment is waiting in the cards for me. Yes, my manager Sri went a step ahead and asked me if Anu will draw some picture for her in a chart. She also told that she will get the chart and pencils for that. Isn't that a great thing? Yes, it is and I was very happy to hear that. I checked with Anu and confirmed that she will do it.

Anu din't say "yes" immediately as she was afraid if she was of that calibre but ultimately agreed. The next day, Sri came with 2 charts and charcoal pencils and I handed it over to Anu :) Anu (for that matter me too) was not aware if such chart sheets are there as we are used to the normal chart papers only. Also, it was the first time that Anu will be trying in charcoal pencils. She thought she will first try in one chart to learn the nuances to use charcoal pencils and then will draw in the other chart.

She started to draw the same drawing which Sri liked. She could not spend time during the weekdays and sat to draw during the weekends, that too after Aditi slept. She spent totally 3 weekends to complete the drawing. And, yes... she did complete in the first chart itself which she told she would first try. Think I need not say that it came out really well and was beautiful.

We handed the chart to Sri and she was very happy that Anu took sometime to draw it for her. In the next 2-3 days, Sri sent us the snap of the drawing that made both of us very happy. Sri framed it and added more beauty to the drawing and hanged it in her home and snapped it and sent it to both of us. That moment was really great.

This is the collage of her drawing before and after framing :)

Anu was so happy to see her drawing decorating someone's drawing room :) Wishing her to achieve more and who knows maybe I would be managing her business in the future scheduling her Art exhibition :) I wish that to happen for my wonderful lady :)

13.Mar.2010: Aditi's school day - great day to us!!!!!!

Last weekend, 13th March 2010 to be precise, was Aditi's school day / graduation day function in Hotel Evoma, on the old Madras road in Bangalore. I should say, it was a memorable and a fantastic event for Anu and I. Hope most of you know Aditi was going to Apple Kids - a play school near Whitefield here in Bangalore.

On 13th, since the function was at the odd time (4pm in the evening) and Aditi was particiapting in 2 events, we made her sleep immediately after breakfast. Woke her up for lunch. After having lunch, we all (Aditi + her grandparents and parents) left for the grand occassion to Hotel Evoma. We reached there before time like most of the parents and sat in the first row just in front of the stage. Though the hall was not that full, there were kids with their parents / siblings. There was a person sitting in a corner doing hand painting for the kids.

The performances by the kids started after sometime and the teachers asked us to dress up Aditi for her first performance of the day. She got dressed up in a cute pink frock with white socks and was waiting to make her first stage performance. Then came the call for the performance "Next on stage is a dance performance for "Apple Kids" song by play school kids". And Aditi climbed onto the stagee with a broad smile on her face. I need not say that the performance by the kids were so cute that we loved a lot and captured the dance. After that we had real joy in watching the performances of the kids.

Check the Apple Kids song video by clicking here

Then we dressed up Aditi in a traditional dress - bluish green silk dress.

In the meantime, they have started giving the medals for the kids who had performed all over the year in sports, fancy dress and overall performance. We felt happy to hear Aditi's name each time they called her to stage. First time they called her name to get the medal for coming first in Frog race. She was called again to receive the next medal for throwing ball in a basket. She posed with those 2 medals with a big smile. Then she climbed the stage to get the second prize dressing up like an IPS officer in Fancy dress competition.

Then the program continued with other performances and Aditi went to perform for 2nd time with the traditional dress for the song "Mile Sur Mera Tumhara" representing Tamilnadu's part of the song along with another kid. It was fun to watch kids in different traditional dresses that are worn across our country, India. Then they gave the certificates to all the kids and Aditi got her play school participation certificate from the center head.



Then came our wonderful and more joyous moment. Aditi was called on stage to receive "Star Performer of the Year" award. We felt really very proud for her. They called us, the parents, on the stage and asked me to give the award - a cup, to Aditi. With lots of love and great pride I gave it to her. As a parent, we felt proud and could not control our happiness on the stage. We got the moment snapped - one for the life for sure :)

Down came the curtains after other star performers in pre-kg and other batch of play school were awarded. After high tea, we took snaps with all the teaching staff and non-teaching staff before returing home with a proud feeling with Aditi's certificate, 2 medals, a prize and an award. We wish her to achieve more to make us happy in the days to come.

We love you sweetie - Aditi :)

Coorg Trip - May 2009

Just wanted to share the recent trip to Coorg with few of my friends as I wanted to relive the moments we had all thru the trip. Let me first introduce the gang that made it to the trip. Padmanabhan aka Paddu, Satish Kumar aka Saty, Aparna Avala aka Aparna, Vanka Sivaram Prasad aka Shiv, Annapoorna (Aparna's Sis) aka Anu aka Mrs Shiv, Gajendran (Paddu's friend) aka Gaja, Anuradha (my wife) aka Anu, Aditi Anjay (our daughter) aka Aditi and of course me :)

Thanks to Paddu for mooting the idea of going for a trip and after the trip, all of us felt it gave us an opportunity to relax which we dont do normally. And the plan was discussed for over 2 months (since last week of Feb 2009 I think) among atleast 12 of us (excluding Gaja, Mr & Mrs Shiv) and you know who all made it to the trip :)

After lots and lots of discussion on the mode of travel and the lodging aspects in Coorg, we finalized on A/c tempo Traveller and Homestay named "Orchid Valley Retreat". This was taken over by Anu & I and hope we did our best - kudos to us :) Having finalized this, we thought of meeting on thursday night, 30th Apr, so that all can start early from one place on 1st May. Yes... your guess is right, as plans are always plans, and due to some unavoidable reasons we could not start from Bangalore before 10.30 in the morning as we went to pick up guys near Koramangala. Then we started the much awaited trip to Coorg.

Its needless to say that we had fun as soon as we stepped into the cab. First we planned to goto Mysore and see the Palace before Coorg. The trip was good except for the heat in spite of the A/c cab we arranged. The driver stopped in a good hotel in Mysore around 2.30pm but to our dismay we found that it was overflowing. We went inside to see if we can find some place and came out like a ball punched on a wall. The driver then drove us to a hotel which made me think like this "Is Mysore wary of good hotels?". Man, one should not comment on the food we eat, but I dint have a choice after having it there after such a tiring travel. Having entered we ordered the items that we liked (atleast that option was there) irrespective of how good or bad is that item. After that, we went to Palace. For some of us it was the first time. We spent some good time there by roaming and viewing the Palace from outside. We got some memorabalia there and had coffee and refreshed and started off to Coorg. It was around 6pm in the evening. We were told, it is 2 to 2.30 hrs drive from Mysore to Coorg.

After lots and lots of calls to the homestay owner Mr.X and checking with the guys on our way, we came to the place at last around 9.30 pm. Ooof...there was no power when we reached but the dinner was ready. What a luck! Power came soon. We got settled quickly and finised the dinner and took rest. The homestay was situated inside the coffee estate and we felt like we were in a jungle. It was a different experience for each one of us.
The next morning we had Kadampittu (a variety of puttu), aval uppuma for breakfast. Then visited these places - Nalknad Palace, Ikuthappa Temple, Bhagmandala - Triveni Sangam, Tala Cauvery and Raja's Seat in Madikeri. During the travel, we played some games and chatted. Thanks to Saty for the pain he had taken for conducting such interesting games all thru the tour.

That night, we had bonfire after dinner. All of us sang and Aparna danced and the pair Mr & Mrs Shiv remained quiet watching the happenings. Saty had a game for that night too, wow :) Later we started playing cards for sometime till 4 am (hihihihiii) and slept. Shiv was the winner of the game.

See, we are sincere guys and we woke up and got ready not that late. Today for breakfast we had Naputtu and aval uppuma for breakfast, settled the balance amount for the homestay and thanked the couple who took care of us with great food for dinner and breakfast. Took a snap with them before we left. They gave us some flowers, plants (we have this in our flat balcony now) and fruits.

Last day of our trip. Mr and Mrs Shiv had to catch the bus in Bangalore @ 11.45 pm. Time crunch...ehhh. No issues, we covered, Dubare - Elephant Sanctuary, Nisargadama and Golden Temple - all 3 places around Kushal Nagar. We had nice time in all the places except for the heat again. We started from Golden Temple around 6.15pm and the driver did a good job that the couple dint miss the bus to Chennai. Then we dropped Saty, Paddu and Gaja on the way as they had to goto Majestic. Later dropped Aparna in her apartment and reached home around 1 mid night.

What a trip, right? We really had fun in playing the games conducted by Saty. In addition to these games and visiting places, another interesting thing for all of us was the presence of Aditi. All of us had a nice time with her and her statement "moonu naalu" meaning "more than one" was taken by almost all as all of us were refering to that word quite often even after the trip :)

Altogether it was a memorable trip for all of us for sure and hope it was a memorable (though a bit long) trip for you also!!!

Hello...

Hello all,
I thought of sharing some moments I have come across or heard thru my closed ones. Motto is "Feel what I felt"! So come on, hang on with me to check the feelings [:)]