And I celebrated my 35th birthday yesterday with a baby- finally!

Kids, they say the darndest things!

So we are sitting in a restaurant, my 3.5 year old niece is perched beside me on her chair. She suddenly decides she wants to go to her father. I tell her there's no space. She looks at me and says "Mami, he has two legs and one lap, that's enough space for me".
Gosh, kids,they say the darndest things don't they?? :)

Amma-in pictures

They say a picture conveys a thousand words. I've put together some photos of my mother. I think it encapsulates her essence, a warm-hearted fun loving individual, loving wife,devoted mother, dedicated teacher. My brother and I were lucky we had such amazing parents. They didn't live long enough but I think they managed to instill their values in us.

Feisty, feisty Amma


How she loved dance and music

Innocence, Love, Hope


Amma


Karlsruhe and Hannover


Christmas in Oxford



Hey 50 is the new 20!





Animal rights issues were very close to her heart



Check this out!

Back with a barrel

Well here I am again. I've had a looooooong break. I know. I am going to try and be a dedicated blogger again. I also hope that I have happy things to say from now on. I want to thank ALL of you for your concern, your encouraging words, your affection. It meant a lot to me, although I might not have been too vocal about expressing it.
I've quit my job and I think that was a wise decision. I feel so much lighter now. I've had time to do so many other things (except blog, I know :)).I've managed to meet and catch up with several friends and relatives. I've started the hard,hard process of shedding the adipose layer- aerobics, yoga... I certainly feel much better. Must be all those endorphins coursing through my body. I've actually started dabbling with paint.Art is supposed to be therapeutic right?Thing is,I'm no artist People who know me will laugh loudly. Growing up in Germany, I was called "Tollpatsch" which essentially means clumsy klutz:). We had a grading system in school, 1-6 where 1 is outstanding and 6 obviously the opposite. My grade in art or Kunst as it was called, was ALWAYS a 5 or 6- that's how bad I was. During my PhD, I was the one who broke all possible types of glassware, inexpensive, expensive, it didn't matter,I wasn't the discriminating sort, I just had to see the shards. My guide is known to have said discreetly, "well you know her, she has butterfingers"-that's how bad I was. I am a right handed person with two left hands...that's how ba...well,you get the drift :) And then I saw "the barrel" or "peepa" as its known in tamil. My brother and I were clearing up our home in Chennai. It was a tiring affair. We didn't have too much time and we had so much to do. While clearing the attic, I came across two barrels. They were cream coloured, ancient and rather dirty. They belonged to my paternal grandmother. When she became a bride at the ripe old age of twelve (seventy three years ago), her mother gifted them to her- to store rice. I sat on the bigger barrel and found it rather comfy. That's when the idea came to me "hey why don't I paint it and use it as a stool, anyway I don't have much to do these days". I brought it home and it sat there disconsolately for a month. I looked at it and wondered what on earth I was going to paint on it. Considering my non-existent artistic skills, I wanted to choose a very simple motif. I lay on the sofa (which belonged to my parents- you can see I haven't let the brother take too much :))and ruminated. Eureka!I had this pen stand with Worli stick figures.I decided to copy the design. Easy peasy, or so I thought. I spread out several newspapers in the balcony and began working on my master piece. I spilt paint everywhere (The stains haven't come off yet, my maid is NOT amused). Ladies and gentlemans,I present to you, my piece de resistance " The Worli peepa" Please be kind, I have an artistic temperament now :)



My grandmother is happy it isn't dirty anymore and its ideal to store all my letters, lock, stock and barrel (sorry, I couldn't resist that one!).
I want to thank the Mad momma , she told me she was actually interested in seeing what I had done, THANKS :)


And now, since I am on a roll, I want to thank Tharini of Winkie's way. She came up with this lovely post on painting onesies .

A very close friend of mine in Germany had a baby boy in april so I decided to paint some onesies.I used fevicryl but I don't think its really washable.Anyway, she was deeply touched and decided that instead of letting her baby wear the onesies, she would hang them up in his room instead. Hmmm, should I be happy about that?:)I present to you my onesies, you can see that they are not nearly as well done as Tharini's but I beseech you to remember the artistic temperament and be kind :)



I know, the aum in tamil doesn't look right.In my defence,I haven't formally learnt to read and write tamil. I'm a language orphan and I want to change that.

And so I get pregnant again, manage to last till the 7th month, develop the same complications and lose the baby again.

Wow, my cup of joy can overflow no further. I have actually managed to pack in one more miscarriage. Someone up there must really love me.

Amma

We were a happy family, an extremely happy family.

September 2004, my father passes away. January 2007, I lose my baby in the sixth month of pregnancy. June 2007, my mother meets with a road accident and passes away. I don't even have the energy to ask "Why us?" Whenever I feel the anger well up in me I try to think of the Holocaust victims or of some other situation more tragic than ours.