Home: USA or India........"Attraction of Soft Power"

HERE IS A POST FROM VIM:


We arrived in the USA May-21st-2010 evening. 5 Days on, so far the weather has been the only aspect that makes one feel like Home. Its ironic, I "say the weather is the only thing that makes one feel like home" - its been quite warm and sunny. Outlook is Warm/Sunny all week while we are here in Michigan to seek out, a house to live for our return in July-2010, coupled with trying to land a job and also attend my nephews wedding.


But all this things are a mute point considering, I miss home. I refer to HOME these days as India. Strange as it sounds but it very hard to explain.......there is something about India that has drawn one back. It sort of like the parallelism to the show 'LOST'. You want to leave the island, but yet the Island calls you back. The best way to describe the overall feeling is summed up but the attached 20min YouTube 'TED Conferance' Video titled: 'Why Nations should pursue "soft" power' - discussed by Shashi Tharoor Former Culture Minister of State for External Affairs in India.

Things are moving fast!!!

It was 2 years ago, almost to the exact date, that we started this adventure in Inida.

It was May 23, 2008 that Vim and I boarded a flight to Bangalore India.  Vim's first trip to India after many, many year, and his first visit to Bangalore.  This trip was the begining of our experience in India.

Now here we are, 2 years later with another pivital flight ahead of us.  Tonight Vim and I a boarding a flight to Michigan.  This is the start of the move back home.  It is bittersweet....  this is now the start of the end....

A lot of emotions are flowing...  and we are really truly excited about being 'home' again.  But this means saying 'good-bye' to the experiences and the life that we had for the last 2 years.

We will only be home for about a week...  a lot to pack into a short time.  But, it won't be long before we are back for good!!

Weekend....

HERE IS A POST FROM VIM:

This past weekend Anant my nephew came to visit us.  He flew in from Delhi where he is on a ex-pat assignment until July-10. 

 

The most notable part of the weekend was that we all went to Iron Man 2!  About a year ago…… Dev wrote about our experience of movie watching at an Indian theater with a Gold Class Pass  where one actually gets his/her own 180 degree plush reclining Lazy Boy leather chair to sit and watch the movie, accompanied with full butler service for all your needs; foot massage to whatever you want to order off the menu to eat. 

 

Iron man 2 was screened in Silver Pass Class.  Now these theaters in Indian do truly out-do what you get back home in terms of space, view angle, rocking seat and theater staff that bring you your food rather than you wait in line for it – Disadvantage; no reclined plush seats nor a foot massage.

 

Now….  The interesting part of the experience was not the seating or movie for Silver Pass.  After few movie / commercial advertisements, I was surprised to see a message on screen,  “Please stand up for National Anthem”.  Everyone stood silently,  then as the short movie clip started, everyone started to sing.  During the Anthem, heard two off beat voices, next to me – Yes Milan / Mira were singing along with the on screen artists.  That made me so Proud that these two youngster have embraced so much culture and experience that they actually sang the whole Anthem.  In past conversations they have discussed the anthem and tried to make Dev and recite it.  The short clip that everyone sang along to was fantastically produced – with top Indian International Music Artists who are world renowned and the most famous we all know today who won an Oscar / Grammy’s that being; A.R.Rehman. (Jai Ho – Slumdog Millionaire).

 

This link will guide to the actual Anthem Short Clip:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3TtgYuaVFk&feature=relate

 

The English translation of the Indian Anthem – It is actually poetic which makes it a good read:

 

Thou art the ruler of the minds of all people,
Dispenser of India's destiny.
Thy name rouses the hearts of Punjab, Sind,
Gujarat and Maratha,
Of the Dravida and Orissa and Bengal;
It echoes in the hills of the Vindhyas and Himalayas,
mingles in the music of Jamuna and Ganges and is
chanted by the waves of the Indian Ocean.
They pray for thy blessings and sing thy praise.
The saving of all people waits in thy hand,
Thou dispenser of India's destiny.
Victory, victory, victory to thee.

Pictures from the School Performance

If you recall, the evening that we were leaving for China, the kids had a program at their school.  It was called the Indus Day Program.

Both the kids were really looking forward to it...  they had been practicing and practicing...

Mira was in the Tabla Performance.  She was the only girl in the group....  go girl!!  she was really good...

Milan was in a dance.  And for weeks leading up to the performance, he was so excited about his dance.  He was a Katakali Dancer.  Now for many of you, you probably don't know what this is.  It is a traditional dance from Kerala.  The dancers are wearing a full head gear, costume and make up.  I was actually surprised that Milan was 'ready' to do this!!

Check out the pictures below.....

Milan was a real cutie in his costume!  I am sure that he won't want anyone to see these pictures 10 years from now!!

Mira was so good banging her drums!!

I was very proud of both of my performers!!

Catching up....

So... Have not posted lately...  the days are just slipping by!!

It is Mango season again...  and they are so delicious!  Mango salsa, Mango milk shake, Mango with ice cream, Mango with cereal.....  it is the best!!

It is also now officially Monsoon season...  everyday it rains.  But this this the evening rain that cools everything off!!  The days are warm and sunny!!

The weekend is here and we are going to just chill out!!  Have a good weekend!

Pictures from Taco Bell

Yes, I know, this is a little past due... but better late then never...

Here are the pics from the trip to Taco Bell. This was the 4 hour adventure that we made right when it opened... We have not been back since!!  Going 4 hours for taco bell just does not seem right... 

April 17

Anyone know the significance of that day???

Yep.... Vim's half birthday!! But more importantly, it is Milan's Birthday.... This year my baby turned 7. He truly is growing up to be a big boy. The other day he said to me that he can not cuddle with me anymore because he is getting big now!! I almost cried!!

His birthday festivities were spread out over the entire weekend. Friday, it was a trip to the mall food court (yes, that is actually exciting for us... don't knock it!!). On the way home, a pit stop at Baskin Robbins for some 'take-away' ice cream and once we were home I baked some brownies... doesn't get much better than that!!

Saturday was the actual birthday. We woke up and gave the birthday boy his presents. All he asked for was a light for his bike and an Ipod Nano. The second one was just a wish, he was trying to see if he could get lucky like Mira did for her birthday!! Unfortunately, he was not so lucky.... He did get the bike light and he LOVED it! It brought in big smiles!! The irony of it... his bike broke on Friday and he has not been able to test out the 'bike light'. He was really bummed, but a trooper about it!! He also got a Ben-10 Watch... again, he was really happy. Next was birthday lunch... it was off to the Hard Rock Cafe (yes, those of you loyal readers that have a good memory might remember that we went there last year for his birthday too!). Lunch was great. A few errands on the way home and then it was a chill out evening at home.

Sunday was the party!! 20+ kids ranging from 5-8... mostly boys... thank goodness I decided to have the party outside the house!! We went to the Italian restaurant at the mall. They do a B-day party theme where the kids make there own pizzas, decorate cupcakes, have cake, drink soda.... and they do all the work!! It was great!! The kids had a great time... I realized one thing... the amount of energy that was flowing with all the kids running around was insane!! I suppose all the sugar did not help!! The boys at that age are really a handful!!! Party was from 4-6... we were home in time for Sunday bedtime routine... Which concluded the b-day weekend!!