me making idlis this morning in my kitchen..a typical telugu way to end this year...tomorrow is telugu new year ugadi..another new year starts...
goodbye to another year..april2007 to april2008..
I got up and while I was making tea called up home in India to chat...all the interesting gossips of my two little nephews fights...they talk on phone cutely..they tell me madhavi aunty send us a plane, we will come tomorrow morning to play with u...cute na..kids world..
I got up turned on my taperecorder fullswing listened to lalitha sahasranamam..prayer time while having my first cup of tea...then telugu movie songs from classical telugu movies of Kviswanath my fav. director..movie songs from movies like sankarabharanam, swarnakamalam...dancing to those songs..made idli and chutneys..
a typical morning in a typical telugu brahmin family...I miss being home...
the whole home will smell of filter coffee starting at 6am..and then the newspaper walla comes to deliver newspaper and people are busy reading newspapers and having morning coffee..then u hear cooker and mixer/grinder sounds..morning idli and dosa ready...someone would start MS subbalakshmi venkateswara suprabhatam..elders shower and then pray and then have breakfast..while kids are still playing , screaming and refusing to eat while grandma tries to feed all children with big idlis in her plate...this is a typical morning in a typical telugu brahmin home..
I missed that today..
the year that is ending today was significant and insignificant..joyful and painful..family came from India to visit me for 4 months..those four months were memorable..work kept me busy..I had oppurtunities to do charity work, ran three bone marrow drives for leukemia patients...I almost came close to marriage last year and broke it off thank God...Iam grateful to God for making me realise the guy was just so so wrong for me..I kept thinking I want a guy who looks like telugu actor mahesh babu last year though I dont go for looks at all...I ended up with a very good looking guy with no integrity or brains...so moral of the story may be never go for looks in a guy , looks can be deceiving..what else happened last year..
I read the most wonderful books last year..it was an amazing year intellectually..from kiran desais novel to so many good books I read last year..the books I loved reading last year are Drifters,Inheritance of loss, tokyo cancelled, Obamas dreams from my father, Aynrands letters, Aynrands journal, Dispatches from the edge, Lady and the monk, Hullabaloo in the guava orchid, On beauty, Born in Tibet,Intimacy,Transmission, my life in france, surviving the slaughter,The hindi bindi club, for matrimonial purposes, war antiwar...cant remember the rest...lots of interesting books...I also started working on my second novel and trying to finish my first novel..year was pretty ok..
my health went down last year..I kept falling sick more often...so I changed my diet, cooking more healthy food,so we will see..good thing is I learnt lot of new recipes last year and cooked a lot more variety and trying to eat healthy now..what a year..best part I would say was spending time with my family..It was priceless..4 months I got to show my family my life here in US, traveled , explored life here which was just the best thing that happened to me last year..
and probably the other best thing that happened is me not marrying that guy..it would have been such a disaster..Iam glad I had wisdom to call off my marriage...
year was just as usual like other years typical busy working girls year..
I miss being home today and probably tomorrow too.. so I make up for all that listening to tons of these songs which are so close to home, so close to my upbringing, so close to everything I grew up, values, culture, heritage, people..here are some telugu songs which bring home to me..
all these songs leave me so nostalgic...so close to home..
goodbye to another year..
welcome to another new year..
Iam glad temple has lot of activities tomorrow..so want to spend and start new year at the temple..which is probably the closest thing to home here in Indianapolis..yet another ugadi, yet another new year..Hopefully this new year will bring in new joys, a much needed change in life and good health..and more time with family..may be more time with a real soulmate and may be family or kids of my own..wishful thinking....
