Indian Married girl in America

Happy new year to all in advance.  So far, whatever the new year resolutions I have taken, I almost do it properly. Because I set SMART goals. That is specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time bound. I should actually thank my teacher for helping me in setting up this kind of resolutions. It all started in my 5th standard. I take up very small things as my resolution like, I do home works daily, I improve my handwriting, I learn Thirukural daily, I keep my things organised etc. There were few resolutions I give up also... After few years, I understood that whatever resolution I mention as "I can do"... those I am doing, but whatever the resolution I take to give up or anything to change my habit... I am not fulfilling them.  Like, I won't bite my nails, I will stop drinking aerated juices etc... Then I understood, it is easy to pick up a new habit, but very difficult to give up on one. So, these resolutions really taught me this big lesson and so, ...

Diwali in India is a metaphor to sweets and crackers. Here in US, I try my best to match Indian festivals and our customs to be followed as same as we do in India. But Diwali is an exceptional extraordinary festival, thus nothing can match the joy we share in India on Diwali. Diwali 2017 What is Diwali in India? Wake up with crackers alarm, Oil bath, New dress, Hot and spicy non veg breakfast, TV shows especially patti mandram(debate show),  crackers, sharing Diwali greetings and wishes in texts and phone calls, again variety of non veg food for lunch, new movies, crackers and a SOUND sleep with all these memories.  Diwali does not end up in one day, now the auspicious mode turned on the second day, we call it Gowri Nonbu. This is a traditional pooja, when Kalasam will be decorated as Goddess Gowri Amman, homemade adhirasam will be devoted to her, yellow twines will be kept in that pooja, which later will be distributed within family members. This pooja has to be ...

Summer vacation 2017, we took a break on our routine and went on a 4 days bus tour with two kids. Experience on travelling with kids itself requires a different post. So I made it seperate -  Travel experience . Here, I pen down (ha ha type down) about the views of the places through my eyes. Day 1 It was a four days long tour, finalized through take tours. But the service provider was America Asia. We started on saturday morning (16th sep) from home to China town in Uber. From there, a tour bus picked us up to Montrey. From there, we changed to the actual tour bus that take us to the trip. The AC tour bus is cool and had wide windows to see all the beauties on our travel. We started from there around 10 o'clock, took a couple of rest room breaks and a lunch break near a mall and were taken to one of the sight seeing places in tour plan, LONDON BRIDGE ,  Guide gave us a brief note on the place that the bridge was shipped from London to it's current place, thus...

After becoming a mom of two kids, my dream for long drive and trips on werkends were vanished. But cleaning the house, back to back movies, staying awake in late nights, waking up on next day afternoon also bored. I don't want a lazy weekend anymore. I wanted a change. I want some refreshment in the fresh air. Decided!!!!! Beach!!!! Yes, Saturday night, I packed necessaries for a picnic. When U travel with a kid, even for 1hr journey, you need to pack like picnic only. Because, you will not know, what is exactly needed, so the minimum back up for food and cloth is a must. Sunday morning, sharp at 6, we woke up to swipe off the  ⏰. I prepared idly for breakfast and packed it. Me and Vetri had our refreshing beverage coffee. Dressed up the kids and all were ready by 6.30. We headed to Santa Monica Beach but actually with an intention to stop anywhere comfortable before it. The drive to beach was through mountain roads. Traveling in car with windows down and breathing...

My son's Montessori was arranged for their graduation day of the year. Though my son was not going to graduate that year, I was so excited for two reasons. One, it was the first preschool graduation, I was about to watch. second is the primary reason to my excitement: My son Udaya was dancing in that event. I was informed that they were doing dance practice, but I had no idea what Udaya was doing. He did not say anything about the dance practice. I did not find any excitement in him. After seeing   The picture day , I understood that the arrangements would be big and much organised. All students in the school were not more than 6 years, so dance by them in an organised way could not be possible was my perception but, I was proved wrong when almost 95% the kids did a perfect job on  stage. The previous day to the event, I visited school and inquired about his costume and time to reach school etc. I always find the communication from school end was poor, so myself went...

My philosophy on pizza and people, pizza: eat when it is hot. Don't waste in learning shapes with it. It is no way related to its taste. The same with people, appearance matters only till u get to know them, but keep on analyzing is just a waste of time. Enjoy the interesting nature of others.

June 21, There is nothing important  about this day. I am sure, I ll forget this date in some days, but the memories will last longer. Anything that comes first are always special and memorable. The speciality of this day falls under that category. My son's school, notified us that June 21 is going to be their picture day of the year 2017. Individual pictures of each student and group photo of each class was taken. My son's first picture day in school. My son was in montessori and no uniforms. So, I'm confused whether to choose some grand dress or casual or anything formal dress to wear. Finally my husband chose a Jean pant and a half sleeve to shirt. That is fine, school group pic should get back his school memories, so his casual wear is fine. Anything, other than his casual wear will turn to be a fancy dress. So, I too agreed with his choice of outfit. When we went back to pick him up from school on that day, they were not done with the photo session. ...

It is very common to get cold. Sometimes the reason for cold will not just be the cold climate but body heat and dust too. I always opt for home remedies, when we suffer from cold. Even for kids, home remedy does the best. When I see my kids suffer with no sleep and continuous cough, I go for medicines that I brought from India. Bronklin for cough, should be given only 8 hrs once for 3 days. 2.5 ml for 10 kg kid. Paracetamol for fever Tancet for cold - should be given only at night. These medicines are not to be taken without Doctor prescription. I wrote an article on home remedy for cold, in which I also provided some of the causes and prevention to cold and cough, especially for kids. Home remedy/granny therapy for cold and cough

When there are people looking only for abroad grooms, there are still people who wants their children to get married to their arm's reach. Even my mom was suggested not to agree for abroad proposal for me, but my mom agreed. I never seen her offending or defending anyone while speaking and while giving their suggestions. she won’t even take up any argument,  I doubt whether she has mood swings at anytime in her life, all she do is to stay calm and her action speaks of her thoughts.  My mom always believe, there are good people all around the world and her prayers and my(late) dad will always keep us safe.  More over, she believes in her brought up that her children could survive strong irrespective of place and situation. She cultivated the same positivism in us. Share you comments on how your mom encouraged your life? let the positivism get spread. 

Mother - the influence of our life. Most of the cases, our character and attitude are defined by our mom. Because we grow seeing her.  When there are times, we stuck up at what to do next, we obviously think in the shoes of our mom.  There was an incident when my mom was supposed to catch up a night train after returning from office, but received a death news of our migrated neighbor, however, I told her to ignore the news for then and to get ready for travel, she said,  "few things should never be ignored, situations cannot be same after a while, and above all  understanding others is more important than expecting others to understand our situation".  She joined the funerary ceremony, and then made her travel at eleventh hour. Even at the nick of time, I did not see that hurry in her face. Cool woman ever.    Yes, she could have made her travel without hurry and could have shared her condolences to their family after returning back. But #Prior...

Learning starts from womb and Mother is the first teacher to all of us. I wanted my son too to learn many things from me before he started going school. It is believed that the future intelligence of any kid is determined by their learning in their first 5 years.  Kids as well are curious to learn new things at this age and so this is best time to teach basics.  Language is basic to communication and any learning. So, to begin with, I introduced English and Tamil (our mother tongue)alphabets and small words to him. I used few tools to make his learning fun and colorful.  Click here  to know How I introduced alphabets to my son.

Do you keep your baby with diaper all the time? This is very common to mothers now, but still there are people who question this with great surprise and I came across this question many times. I was also against diaper when I was a new mom, I thought this could bring discomfort to kid, rashes, infections or even serious illness in future. As a new mom, I searched for many parenting doubts in Google, many are useful and they are confusing too.  Finally I did, what my mom and mom in law said. Google sometime threatens us more and shakes up our knowledge. That is how I got to know about the serious illness of using diaper but be confident, many studies are only theoretical and not tested.  My write up now is not about the pros and cons of using diaper anyway. When I was in India, I use diaper to my babies only at night and during travel. But after coming here to California, I found it difficult to manage the cleanliness of home without diaper. People may question, Does you...

Sometimes when I fall sick, sometimes when I have quarrel with my husband, sometimes when my kids fall sick, sometimes when I look back at those successful past of mine, sometimes when I think of my childhood dreams, and all the time I lose my hope, I think of whose daughter I am and I get up with hope. I was brought up by a single parent, my father passed away when I was 2 and half years old. But this never affected me in anyway. "God gives burdens and also shoulders". I was pampered by my grandfather and grandmother throughout my life, if I should tell it right, throughout their life. Thank God, they are still healthily alive at their age of 80+ and 75+ respectively. Still, the decision maker and financial responsibility is carried over by my mom. Blessed with a second mom - my sister Rekha. She is my mom, mentor, fighter, friend, roomie, role model everything.  When I was closely observing her, I realized her role model is my mom. She always stood as a bridge be...

Few months after I got comfortable with my household works, I faced a new trouble in handling my routine. Suddenly I saw new cuts and rashes in my right hand, my palm was red and swollen. Soon, it became worse, cuts on every finger (front & back) with bleeding and pain on finger tips; nails became hard, totally my right hand was changed to look like an Hag's hand.  It might be caused by dish wash liquid, I was new to all kind of household works, so thought, I got allergic to it. So, changed dish wash liquid. But the same problem existed, then I started using gloves for dish washing and applied coconut oil for betterment. No changes.  My right hand looked totally different from left hand. Dish wash liquid was the cause but it impacted in my all other activities. I could n't cut vegetables, because my hand was hard and couldn't get hold of knife, I couldn't cook, the hot vapor brought more irritation to the fissures. Hair wash, combing hair,...

The loneliness and boredom in my cold New Jersey home, made me to think that I was losing my identity. Though I started experimenting in my kitchen and coming out of good recipes, the feel of missing me grew up. I did a professional course but I ended up with no profession. I found it guilty to live with no earning, so I searched for online jobs but nothing seems to be reliable. Then I decided to get hold on my passion at least. My passion from school days is what I'm doing now...Writing.   I can write an autobiography too,  but I know, there are miles to go. I had written on various topics from my school days. I must thank my school for encouraging such skill. It was a small school with lesser strength, so opportunity for giving welcome speech, vote of thanks and hosting a program was high for everyone. I was blessed with such opportunities and we were given freedom to write our content on our own. They also conducted competitions for speech, essay writing,...