OMG!

It has been so long since I wrote anything here last time. I don't know why but I had so much going on that I could not spend any time on this little personal space.

Anyways, I have been planning on writing a post on My Ten Years Living Away From Home Country. I know I am lazy but will get to writing it up soon enough.

Upcoming events in my life: My ten year courtship anniversary with my husband. It has been that long and yet feels like yesterday! And not to forget my seven year Registered Marriage anniversary. WooHoo! Feels good to see the years chalking up. Yes, I am growing old and graying fast but life is also progressing.

If you are really bored then feel free to read my short love story here, here, here, here, here, and here. Yes, I wrote them in small parts :)

Cute things my daughter said, at least it was cute for me:

1) We went for the Shakar-Ehsan-Loy and on our way back I asked her, "So Babs, did you like it?" She promptly told me, "What a good performance Amma." Too much of Dance India Dance.

2) I dance around a lot in the house. I love dancing. So when I was doing one of my impromptu performances through which my daughter and husband are forced to sit through daughter said, "Amma ke liye sab log ek bar zhor dhar thaaliyan." Yes, really, too much Dance India Dance.

Love you lots Babs!

Your Amma :)

My Friend Nanda!

I have quite a few Best Friends. Ya, I know if I use the word Best, then there should only be one right? But then I have one BFF, a girl from school, one from college, I have a Dallas BFF, etc, etc...

So anyway, I have one boy BFF from Chennai. We were neighbors for a long time. He is an awesome photographer and if you have the time please do visit.

Here is the link.

Thanks
Anu

Tag Time! Gender Stereotypes!

My Sins Against Gender Stereotypes – tagged by IHM

This is a tag from Shilpa:

If you are a woman,

Have you ever wanted something that is considered ‘manly’ ? Like a basketball, a cell phone, a dog, a camera or a new laptop? A new car or motor bike? Ever wanted to be a pilot? A doctor or not a nurse? And the manliest want of them all – The remote! 

As a kid did you enjoy playing with a bat and a ball?

There was a time when books were considered ‘manly’, women authors had to pretend to be men – would you say books are still rather manly – women should want to embroider and crochet?

If you are a man,

Have you ever wanted something that only women are supposed to want – like bags, shoes, clothes, creams, perfumes, babies, flowers? A peaceful home and a happy family? Have you ever been afraid of the dark or of insects?

As a kid did you ever want to play ‘teacher-teacher’, cooking or did you like playing with a doll? Have you ever enjoyed cooking? Bought something in pink? Loved chocolates?

After reading IHM's tag I was torn. The first feeling I got was, bah! I don't get this at all and later I hoped that she had tagged me so I could have written some of my own instances. So when Shilpa tagged me I was super excited. I also noticed that another friend of mine also had my same initial reaction when I told her that she was also going to get tagged. Interesting.

Growing up in India, that too in a small township in Trichy and later in Chennai, I have broken many gender stereotypes. I have also suffered from many of it, which will probably be for another post if I ever decide to write it. I was always a social butterfly and I was far more into enjoying life than most others around me who were almost always quick to judge. Anyways, all that later for a rant post, let me get to the tag first.

1. I have ridden a motorbike around Chennai quite a few times. With helmets on of course. I never wanted to be seen as a ‘girl’ riding the bike. It was my brother’s Kawasaki.
2. I have roller-skated when I was just a little girl (early 80’s) being the only girl in the rink in our township. I was the only tennis player in our court when I was growing up. Boys used to push me aside and be mean to me until one day I just used my muscle to show that I could beat them in the game of tennis. I got respect after that.
3. I have almost always been the only girl in bathing suit in our pool in the township. Heck, I have been the only girl in the pool itself. I have photos to prove it.
4. I spoke with boys in Chennai, as a little girl growing up. It was a taboo those days. Boys used to visit my house, classmates, and friends, and I have had people talk ill of me behind me. Biatches!
5. I don’t like Valentines Day.
6. I don’t go all crazy over stuffed toys.
7. I cannot do the baby speak. I am sorry babs you never got baby talk from me.
8. I cannot say cho-chweet and I get annoyed when people say that to me or something mine.
9. I love watching tennis, Formula 1 racing, and basketball and many men have given me grief assuming that I follow this only to check out the good looking guys in it! Really?!! I am sure I can kick your ass in tennis and F1 trivia for sure!
10. I like to swear and abuse. Cuss words 

Before I finished this, I realized that I could actually list out more than 15 resons and then I toned it down to be the most common ones that made me feel annoyed or like a stranger. I grew up with boys at home and most of the time I could never understand what the big deal was!

I am tagging the following friends for following reasons, please pick it up and add the above badge to your blog as well!

Megha: Because I always want to know your opinion.

Shannah: So that I can see your point of view.

Arshiya: I would like to get a journalistic view on this.

Poorva: You are from a different generation.

Sum: I love your bird stories

Kavita: I love your cakes!

And anyone else who is ready to take up this tag! Thank you Shilpa for tagging I really enjoyed doing this one.

Love

ART

Comments on my Post!

I am just trying out the whole feeding on to Facebook for the sake of getting my blog across to more people. Just like anyone else would like to. If you feel like you like it and would like to comment on it, please do so on my blog rather than on FB. It will help me keep your valuable comments for posterity. I really appreciate your inputs and would like to archive them for my daughter to read it when she is old enough to understand what her mother is babbling about. I will try and include this comment with brevity in all my future blogs as a reminder.

Thanks
Anu

Chattanooga!

I love to take Babs out a lot just because it keeps her away from other distractions such as TV or idleness. Every weekend I plan on doing something but in Dallas most of the fun and interesting places for kids are not very close to our house. I had blogged and listed some out here and if you know any more, please let me know so I can update the list and also for my own use.

When I was in Chattanooga last weekend, it was different. My father's house which is about 15-20 minutes from the downtown had at least 4 places to offer for my kids within a 5-10 mile radius. Here is a list of them and if you are ever in Chattanooga do drop in.

Day One: As soon as we drove to my parents house my daughter was hyper seeing her cousins and meeting her grandparents. I could not make her take a nap, or eat. She played with her cousins and eventually we just went to the apartment pool. Nope, this is not one of the attraction, just documenting my stay there :)

Day Two: We took the kids to the Aquarium in downtown. We thought it would be a three hour affair but landed up spending better part of the day and noon there after we took the boat ride on the Tennessee River, which we could have missed. They had advertised it as a Speed Boat Ride which turned out to be a nature watch 2 hour ride. The boat did some speed only for about 15 minutes of the entire journey. The rest of the trip we were asked to look out for animals that never appeared...it was about 100 degs outside, they had better sense than to venture outside.

Day Three: My niece and nephew wanted to go to the Discovery museum also located in downtown. It was super fun, they had craft workshops, music rooms with different instruments for kids to play on, archeological sites, bubble yard, toys/equipments based on simple physics and biology and general science, library with tons of kiddie books, etc. Again something I thought would take an hour took us about three hours and the kids once again were exhausted. The rest of the evening we made a trip to the local mall.

Day Four: We went to Lake Winniepasaukah Amusement Park. The kids had a ball there. We got in around 10.45am, a five minute drive from Father's house and did not leave till the better part of four on the clock was over. It was hot but thankfully, this being Tennessee had lots of tree shade and like anywhere tons of soft drinks for us and the kids. Even mother and I had fun, we did the cable car ride, I freaked out because I kept thinking that my shoes were going to fall into the lake or worse, I would...Babs went to every ride with her uncle and she only did not do one ride that her cousins did because she was afraid. I was very impressed and also glad that she at least now does not have motion sickness like I do.

Day Five: This was really the best trip ever. About an hour drive from my father's house there is the mountain (like most) that houses a cave but this place was different, it is called the Lost Sea Adventure. This cave was not very active like the three other caves I have been to before. Typically most caves showcase stalactites and stalagmite formations that the owners would give different names based on the appearance. It is the same thing again and again. I found Luray Caverns close to Washington DC to be the best among them but the Lost Sea is whole another experience. For one, we could touch and feel around way around as this was not a cave that was filled with those stalactites and stalagmites but rather it was more of a rock formation under the mountains that felt like what it would be above too...rocky, slippery because of the gravelly silt under your feet. and then at the end of all the climbing up and down you see the Sea...a 4.5 acre mass of water, a lake under the mountain. A lake that you can go boating in. It was a very ethereal experience. I could not imagine how the first explorers would have felt like chancing upon the sea of water the first time, did they fall into it in the darkness underground? Beautiful.

Day Six: We spent the day at Lake Chickamauga Dam, again a two minute drive from father's house. We went to the dam itself and saw hundreds of Herons on either side of the river and then we drove to the Lake Park where the kids played in the foot deep water. Mother also got excited and got down into the water. It was clear water with gravel base that hurt your feet but the kids could not be stopped. With no change of clothes they stunk up the whole van! We could have spent a whole day there but we had to take care of a special guest who was coming to visit us from Atlanta.

Jennie, my mother's BFF came from Atlanta to meet us. She is a cancer survivor and has a passion for people that is very infectious. We spent the rest of the day with her and Paul.

Then we headed back home! How sad! There is nothing better than going back to mother's house. I love it everytime I go. I relax, unwind and then get wound up when it comes to an end. I dont think I am still done crying. How much I miss my brother and my family. I am so glad that I got to be there the same time he was there as well and this is the perfect vacation ever!

The best thing about this entire vacation is that Babs did not take a nap at all. She went to bed all by herself by 8.00pm latest. Once, she even slept at 7.00pm and slept 12-14 long hours to get fully pumped up for the next day. Her eating took a beating though, she barely sat down for a meal.

Love
ART

Ps: Here are some places in Chattanooga that I did not get time to visit this time but are on the list for the next trip. Lookout Mountain, the incline railway, and Rock City. Chattanooga might not be as big as many cities in this country but it has more to offer than most I have traveled too, especially if you have a bouncy energetic toddler.