Happy Birthday to me!!!

Happy Birthday to me! Yes folks it is my day. I have had a good one so far. Birthday wishes are pouring in. I had a surprise B'day party at lunch time today. Boy! was I embarrassed. I am expecting my best friend Sharda from New Jersey to be here soon. Looking forward to “Flashback” times.  It’s Thanksgiving in 2 days.  And we are going to celebrate it Indian style! Any excuse for partying.
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Birthdays are so special. For a human being, being born is a joyous time. It is a time of fulfillment for the parents who are blessed with a son or daughter.  On this day normally, parents ask the child to start the day by having a clean bath and offering prayers to almighty. And that’s exactly how I started my day. It’s the important people in our lives that make it special by wishing us. By far the song “Happy B’day to you” is the most frequently sung song around the world. Birthdays are for parties! Gather young and old, family and friends to celebrate your birthday. Having said that, my parents were not big into having B'day parties. And I am the same way. Children like to be surprised and enjoy their presents. So, I do try to make it special for them. It's mostly about opening presents. I can remember 4 important B’day parties in my life. When I turned 5, 20, 25 and 40. My parents had celebrated the 5^th year B’’day party for me, 20 by some close college friends, 25 by my dear hubby and 40 by my present close friends. All had one thing in common. Can you guess? Of course a B’day cake. How can we have a B’day party without a B’day cake? 

My favorite B’day cake is the black forest cake, which I had on my 20^th B’day.  No wonder, college friends are the best! They know everything about  you. Awww. I miss you guys.  That was a memorable day. I was definitely surprised.  And in the end, it’s not the years in your life that count.  it’s the life in your years.  This year my wish is to stay healthy and be good and do good. I hope all my actions will be reflect positively. Hari om!                                       

Testing times

Hi all. Learning, learning, learning! I am surprised how it's getting harder and harder with age to learn new things. What does one do when the going gets tough? The obvious answer is the tough get going. It's testing times for me folks. Time is of essence for all things I get myself involved with and there are only 24 hours in a day and I have only 2 hands and only one person. Sigh!!!
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This image that I copied from google images sums it all up for me. A friend in need is a friend indeed. Just someone assuring me that everything will be fine, is enough to calm me down. It works like magic. Since, I did not want to bother any of my friends on a week day, I decided to update my status on Facebook. A couple of friends commented. It helped somewhat to hear from them. It's funny how much we underestimate the power of human touch. A hug can say a lot that words cannot say. While I work very well under pressure, if it becomes a common occurrence, then it's stressful. I know, I am not the only one in this situation. Most people strive to be the best at what they do, by finding a balance between work and home life. More power to those people who kick, scream, push, pull, shove, jump, and make it happen. Truly tough people. Testing times are hard when they last. But they will pass and good days will be here. My belief. One will bear the fruits of hard work. Patience is the answer. I know, easier said than done. Tomorrow is a new day. Breathing....

Mid-life crisis and I

Survived my first week at my new job folks. It was interesting. I am having difficulty adjusting to the time change. Just don't find enough time to blog. Have been missing this space. 11.11.11 came an went. Nothing crazy happened. Ash did not give birth on that day. Thank god! or else we would have never heard the end of it. I have been doing some serious thinking lately. No, not on my evening walks (it's too cold for that). I have been thinking about life after 40.
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I am a bubbly, fun loving, enthusiastic, and active person. Then how is that nothing excites me anymore? I do everything that a normal person does, like working, taking care of family, exercising, meeting interesting people, etc. However, I am doing all this matter-of- factly. How much ever I try to be emotionally attached to events, it's just not happening. Is this mid life crisis? How else can you explain this? But mid life crisis was only for the boring people, who did not have a life! That's what I thought. Till now. All these years, I did not have time to think about myself. There was always a milestone to reach and I was busy trying to get there. Now it feels like I have been there and done it. Nothing feels like a new experience any more. Having had the opportunity to travel to a few countries, I feel sameness everywhere. Leading a monotonous life is getting to me now. Many people try new things at this stage in life. I am doing that too! But it's definitely not an escape.  Parents are getting older now. This often scares me. It's not like we are getting any younger either. What am I going to do with the rest of my life? If anything, I have to learn from my parents mistakes and try not to be in the helpless state that old age brings with it. It's about living a significant life. Is there something more important and fulfilling that I can focus on now? Still thinking... If I find the answer I will let you all know. Please drop a few lines if you have an answer. I would really appreciate it!

An evening with close friends.

Good evening folks! It's been a week since I wrote anything. It has been a whirl wind of a week for me. I had to wind up all open items with my old position. I start my new job tomorrow. Please wish me luck. We celebrated a late diwali yesterday at our house with most of our friends. It was a fun evening. My friends surprised us with an anniversary cake. Our wedding anniversary is on Nov. 8th. How very thoughtful of them. We are blessed with really good friends. Touch wood. I will let the pictures talk for themselves.
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 Dumb Charades

 Couple question and answer game

 Speech by Adithi

 Sloka by Aditya

 Fruit Punch that Rohit made

 Surprise cake for our Anniversary and Meera's B'day

 Yummy Dinner

 Dessert - Drooooool!

Pretty Women

 Lovely kids

 Meera performing

 Sweet kids sitting quietly through the evening

 Me singing - Ajeeb dastan hai yeh 

Lovely Smitha 

 Chamak Challo group dance

 Vianya and Naren - Fanaa

 Bodyguard Rajesh

 Madhavi and Harish - Iktara

 Sher aur shayari by Ashwin

 Crowd

Kids - jamming

Macho men - So they think!

There are many more pictures. Can't share them all. Some other time.